Framing Manipulation Research Articles

To eliminate police or redirect police funds? The impact of framing on public support for defunding the police.

Previous research and public polls demonstrate the public has varying levels of support for Defund the Police (DTP). However, much of these results assess how individuals feel about DTP rather than how they define it. Additionally, the literature fails to consider the role of these definitions and framing in individuals' assessments of DTP. Using both qualitative and quantitative methodology, the current studies assess the following research questions: (1) How do individuals define DTP and to what extent do individuals support it? and (2) Does framing DTP as either redirecting police funds or eliminating police impact level of support? Participants in both Study 1 (N = 93) and Study 2 (N = 494) were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Study 1 used a nonexperimental design, in which participants provided their definition of DTP and reported their level of support for DTP. Study 2 used a two-group experimental design in which participants were randomly assigned to one of two frames for DTP garnered from Study 1: redirect funds or eliminate police. Subsequently, participants reported their DTP support, DTP definition, familiarity with DTP, political orientation, and alignment with the frame presented. In the absence of a frame (Study 1), more participants opposed DTP than supported DTP. Participants also reported several different definitions of DTP, including decreasing police funds, redirecting police funds to social services, and eliminating police altogether. Notably, how an individual defined DTP was associated with level of support (e.g., defining DTP as redirecting funds was associated with greater support for DTP, compared to this theme being absent in participant definitions). When using the redirect theme and eliminate theme as experimental frames (Study 2), a causal relationship was found between the framing manipulation and support of DTP (i.e., the redirect frame led to greater support than the eliminate theme). The findings from the current studies shed light on how individuals conceptualize DTP, and most importantly, they provide evidence that differential framing can impact support for DTP in the general population. These results have implications for police reform advocates in that the words used to describe DTP can have an impact on public buy-in of policies.

Examining associations between goal and attribute framing, HIV treatment motivation, and affective responses: A mixed methods study of patient thoughts and perceptions

AbstractThe use of framing in persuasive health communications considerably affects health behaviour, but our understanding of how framing influences patient motivation to take HIV treatments remains limited. This study examined how goal and attribute framing are related to the motivational and affective responses linked to HIV treatment adherence behaviours. The predominantly low‐income, African American sample (n = 30) consisted of HIV patients living in Chicago and Los Angeles who reported their thoughts and perceptions regarding HIV treatment in two previous studies. We performed content analysis on data consisting of a total of 119 thoughts and perceptions, categorized the data by type of framing expressed (goal, attribute), and determined correlations between framing type, treatment‐related motivation (i.e., intrinsic, extrinsic, approach, avoidance) and affective responses (i.e., positive, negative). Goal framed thoughts were classified as either gain‐ or loss‐framed. We found that goal framed thoughts highlighting the gains associated with medication adherence were associated with higher levels of intrinsic motivation than either goal framed thoughts highlighting losses or attribute framed thoughts (p < .02). There were no significant associations between type of framing and patients' extrinsic, approach, or avoidance treatment motivations. Negative affect related more strongly to attribute framed thoughts and perceptions than to either gain‐ or loss‐framed thoughts (p < .001). Findings suggest that gain framing may be associated with stronger and more consistent adherence and treatment engagement among HIV patients with a promotion‐oriented self‐regulatory focus. Future studies are needed to evaluate the relative effect of framing manipulations on actual changes in HIV treatment adherence across time.

Reconstruction of multi-phase parametric maps in 4D-magnetic resonance fingerprinting (4D-MRF) by optimization of local T1 and T2 sensitivities.

Time-resolved magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF), or 4D-MRF, has been demonstrated its feasibility in motion management in radiotherapy (RT). However, the prohibitive long acquisition time is one of challenges of the clinical implementation of 4D-MRF. The shortening of acquisition time causes data insufficiency in each respiratory phase, leading to poor accuracies and consistencies of the predicted tissues' properties of each phase. To develop a technique for the reconstruction of multi-phase parametric maps in four-dimensional magnetic resonance fingerprinting (4D-MRF) through the optimization of local T1 and T2 sensitivities. The proposed technique employed an iterative optimization to tailor the data arrangement of each phase by manipulation of inter-phase frames, such that the T1 and T2 sensitivities, which were quantified by the modified Minkowski distance, of the truncated signal evolution curve was maximized. The multi-phase signal evolution curves were modified by sliding window reconstruction and inter-phase frame sharing (SWIFS). Motion correction (MC) and dot product matching were sequentially performed on the modified signal evolution and dictionary to reconstruct the multi-parametric maps. The proposed technique was evaluated by numerical simulations using the extended cardiac-torso (XCAT) phantom with regular and irregular breathing patterns, and by in vivo MRF data of three health volunteers and six liver cancer patients acquired at a 3.0 T scanner. In simulation study, the proposed SWIFS approach achieved the overall mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 8.62%±1.59% and 16.2%±3.88% for the eight-phases T1 and T2 maps, respectively, in the sagittal view with irregular breathing patterns. In contrast, the overall MAPE of T1 and T2 maps generated by the conventional approach with multiple MRF repetitions were 22.1%±11.0% and 30.8%±14.9%, respectively. For in-vivo study, the predicted mean T1 and T2 of liver by the proposed SWIFS approach were 795ms±38.9ms and 58.3ms±11.7ms, respectively. Both simulation and in vivo results showed that the approach empowered by T1 and T2 sensitivities optimization and sliding window under the shortened acquisition of MRF had superior performance in the estimation of multi-phase T1 and T2 maps as compared to the conventional approach with oversampling of MRF data.

Social Interoception and Autonomic System Reactivity during Synchronization Behavior.

Within the social interoception field, little is known about the impact of interoception on autonomic system reactivity during synchronization tasks. The impact of social framing manipulation and Interoceptive Attentiveness (IA; defined as concentrated attention on the breath for a specific time interval) on autonomic responses during interpersonal synchronization was investigated in this research. Under two experimental interoceptive conditions-the concentration and no focus on the breath condition-participants completed two synchronization tasks. A social framing was given to participants by informing them that they needed to complete the tasks in unison to improve their collaboration abilities. Autonomic responses (electrodermal activity and cardiovascular indices) were collected throughout task performance. Two orders of results were observed: high cognitive engagement was detected during the focus on the breath condition and for the social frame. This effect was specifically observed for the motor compared to the linguistic synchronization task. Meanwhile, a potential lack of emotional control was observed in the no focus on the breath condition when the synchronization tasks were not socially framed. Such results encourage the use of the hyperscanning paradigm to deepen the impact of IA in real-time and ecological interpersonal synchronization dynamics.

Matching digital companions with customers: The role of perceived similarity

AbstractDigital companions are an advanced form of digital agents that do not only provide advice and support but accompany people on their day‐to‐day customer journeys. This article sheds light on the psychological processes underlying customers’ responses to these digital companions (i.e., virtual friends or co‐consumers). We propose that framing them as matched with customers on goal‐relevant attributes (i.e., attributes related to customers’ consumption goals) fosters positive customer outcomes (i.e., consumption enjoyment and positive word‐of‐mouth), mediated by perceived similarity in these attributes. Importantly, in this matching context, humanlikeness serves as a boundary condition for perceived similarity to occur. Furthermore, the effect of perceived similarity on customer outcomes is driven by perceived connectedness. In Study 1, in the context of experiential learning, we identified shared interest and personality as goal‐relevant attributes underlying perceived similarity. With the manipulation of the match frame and humanlike versus artificial voice of the digital companion, Study 2 supports our propositions and highlights shared interest, but not personality, as the core driver. We provide recommendations on how to design and market digital companions to foster connection and favorable customer outcomes.

A comparative evaluation of the time to frame removal for tibia fractures treated with hexapod and Ilizarov circular frames.

Traditional Ilizarov and hexapod frames have different biomechanical properties and there is limited literature regarding their effect on time to fracture union or time to frame removal. Tibial fractures managed with a circular frame at a tertiary limb reconstruction referral centre between 2011 and 2018 were retrospectively identified from a prospectively maintained database. They were classified into three treatment groups; Ilizarov style, Taylor Spatial Frame (TSF) and TrueLok Hex (TL-Hex). Data were extracted from electronic patient records and digital radiographs. The primary outcome was time to frame removal, which was seen as an indicator of clinical and radiological fracture union. Odds ratios were calculated with the clinical significance set at 30 days. 274 patients (median age 49 years, 36% female) were included in the analysis. 8.4% Ilizarov, 10.5% TSF and 13.5% TL-Hex frames required further surgery to aid fracture healing (p=0.38). 30% of patients had open fractures. Median time to removal for Ilizarov, TSF & TL Hex frames was 167, 198 and 185 days respectively. There was a significant difference between Ilizarov and hexapod frames. Both TSF (OR 2.2, p<0.003) and TL-Hex (OR 1.8, p<0.04) had a significantly increased time to removal of 30 days or more compared with Ilizarov frames.The time to frame removal in metaphyseal fractures was significantly shorter for Ilizarov frame fixation than hexapod frames (p=0.04). Open fractures were significantly more likely to require at least 30 days extra time to removal than closed fractures (OR 3.3, p<0.001). There was no significant difference in the time to frame removal between fracture location, age or sex. Ilizarov frames have demonstrated a reduced time to frame removal in the management of tibial fractures than hexapod frames. Differences in the time to frame removal, an indicator of time to fracture union, may be due to the different mechanical properties of the frame, or early disruption of the fracture haematoma through secondary frame manipulation and fracture reduction, increased proportion of metaphyseal fractures treated with Ilizarov, or patient selection. The healing time was comparable across the tibia. Pooled meta-analyses may be able to further quantify these associations.

Segmenting Clients using Machine Learning to get the Best Leads in an E-Commerce Business

Customer segmentation is an essential part of modern marketing strategy, as it enables businesses to effectively tailor their marketing efforts and customize their consumer communication. Machine learning algorithms offer a powerful tool for automating the process of customer segmentation by analyzing large amounts of data about customer behavior and identifying patterns that can be used to group customers into segments. We present our experiments and findings for predicting the segment of a customer. We use the Tensorflow library in Python for Machine Learning combined with Pandas for Data frame Manipulation and experiment with various clustering models, including traditional Machine Learning algorithms.

The Psychological Science Accelerator’s COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data.

Message self and social relevance increases intentions to share content: Correlational and causal evidence from six studies.

Information sharing within social networks can catalyze widespread attitudinal and behavioral change and the chance to share information with others has been characterized as inherently valuable to people. But what are the sources of value and how might they be leveraged to promote sharing? We test ideas from the value-based virality model that the value of sharing increases when people perceive messages as more relevant to themselves and to people they know, resulting in stronger intentions to share. We extend this work by considering how sharing context-broadcasting to a wide audience or narrowcasting directly to someone-may alter these relationships. Six online studies with adults in the United States (N participants = 3,727; messages = 362; message ratings = 30,954) showed robust evidence that self and social relevance are positively and uniquely related to sharing intentions within- and between-person. Specification curve analysis showed these relationships were consistent across message content (COVID-19, voting, general health, climate change), medium (social media post and news articles), and sharing context (broad- and narrowcasting). A preregistered experiment showed that manipulating the self and social relevance of messages through a framing manipulation causally increased sharing intentions. These causal effects were mediated by changes in both self and social relevance, but the relative strength of the causal pathways differed depending on sharing context. These findings extend existing models of information sharing, and highlight self and social relevance as psychological mechanisms that motivate information sharing that can be targeted to promote sharing across contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Fear and promise of the unknown: How losses discourage and promote exploration

AbstractMany situations involving exploration, such as businesses expanding into new products or locations, expose the explorer to the potential for subjective losses. How does the potential to experience losses during the course of a search affect individuals' appetite for exploration? In three incentivized studies, we manipulate search outcomes by presenting participants either with a gain‐only environment or a gain‐loss environment. The two environments offer objectively identical incentives for exploration: Using a framing manipulation, we decrease gain‐loss payoffs and provide participants an initial endowment to offset the difference. Participants decide how to explore a one‐dimensional space, receiving payoffs based on their location each period. We predict and find that participants are motivated to avoid losses, which increases exploration when they are incurring losses but decreases exploration when they face the potential for losses. We conclude that exploration is driven by hope of potential gains, constrained by fear of potential losses, and motivated by avoidance of experienced losses.

Message Framing for Recycling Commitment in a Festival Setting: A Three-way Interaction Between Self-efficacy, Goal Specificity, and Construal Level

Message framing is a persuasive tool for promoting sustainable behaviors across various contexts. This experimental study examined a three-way interaction between framed messages and festival goers' self-efficacy: the belief in one's ability to perform a course of action, and commitment toward a recycling goal program. Goal specificity and construal level provide the theoretical basis for the framing manipulation of the messages: abstract (vs. specific) goal and why (vs. how to) recycle. A significant three-way interaction was found, suggesting that the effect of perceived self-efficacy on commitment was moderated by the matching of the framed messages. Participants with a high level of self-efficacy reported a significant increase in commitment when the specific goal and how to recycle prompts were both presented. This finding confirms the interactive nature of festival goers' engaging in recycling in the festival setting. Implications for future research and practical implications are discussed.

Investigating the impact of offer frame manipulations on responders playing the ultimatum game

The present study was designed to test the impact of frame manipulations on the decision-making of responders playing the ultimatum game. Experiment 1 investigated responders' event-related potentials (ERPs) measured in response to the offers as a function of the frame (i.e., negative: “the proposer keeps” versus positive: “the proposer offers”). While no difference in acceptation rate was found as a function of the offer's frame, electrophysiological results suggest that the stronger negative affective response to the offers in the negative frame (N400) was successfully reappraised by the responders (P600), possibly explaining why the offer frame manipulation did not modulate acceptation rates. No framing effect was found when the ultimatum game was played in its one-shot version (Experiment 2), suggesting that repeated measurements did not affect responders' behavior. However, an offer framing effect was found in female (but not in male) responders, when the complexity of the game statement increased, presumably recruiting more cognitive resources and taxing the reappraisal process (Experiment 3). Taken together, these results suggest that framing manipulations are associated with complex affective and cognitive processes, supporting the cognitive–affective tradeoff model.

Measuring feelings about choices and risks: The Berlin Emotional Responses to Risk Instrument (BERRI).

We introduce a brief instrument specifically validated for measuring positive and negative feelings about risks-the Berlin Emotional Responses to Risk Instrument (BERRI). Based on seven studies involving diverse adults from three countries (n=2120), the BERRI was found to robustly estimate anticipatory affective reactions derived from subjective evaluations of positive (i.e., assured, hopeful, and relieved) and negative emotions (i.e., anxious, afraid, and worried). The brief BERRI outperformed a 14-item assessment, uniquely tracking costs/benefits associated with cancer screening among men and women (Studies 1 and 2). Predictive validity was further documented in paradigmatic risky choice studies wherein options varied over probabilities and severities across six contexts (health, social, financial, technological, ethical, and environmental; Study 3). Studies 4-6, conducted during the Ebola epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic, indicated BERRI responses were sensitive to subtle effects caused by emotion-related framing manipulations presented in different cultures and languages (the United States, Spain, and Poland). Study 7 indicated BERRI responses remained stable for 2 weeks. Although the BERRI can provide an estimate of overall affect, choices were generally better explained by the unique influences of positive and negative affect. Overall, results suggest the novel, brief instrument can be an efficient tool for high-stakes research on decision making and risk communication.

Boosting neighbourhood identification to benefit wellbeing: Evidence from diverse community samples

Emerging research has suggested the importance of neighbourhood identification for supporting community wellbeing, especially in disadvantaged areas. However, these relationships have not been tested across diverse neighbourhoods, nor in experimental studies that might establish causal links. To address this, we recruited a diverse community sample of over 3700 participants across two studies. Study 1 was a survey (N = 1617 from 772 distinct neighbourhoods) and found that neighbourhood identification is a mechanism through which neighbourhood socioeconomic status affects wellbeing. Study 2 was an experiment (N = 2109 from 909 distinct neighbourhoods) that found that neighbourhood identification could be enhanced through a subtle framing manipulation, which in turn predicted wellbeing, loneliness, and social cohesion. These effects were not moderated by neighbourhood socioeconomic status. Findings are discussed with a focus on implications for designing effective interventions to support community wellbeing.

Deterring Deepfake Attacks with an Electrical Network Frequency Fingerprints Approach

With the fast development of Fifth-/Sixth-Generation (5G/6G) communications and the Internet of Video Things (IoVT), a broad range of mega-scale data applications emerge (e.g., all-weather all-time video). These network-based applications highly depend on reliable, secure, and real-time audio and/or video streams (AVSs), which consequently become a target for attackers. While modern Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is integrated with many multimedia applications to help enhance its applications, the development of General Adversarial Networks (GANs) also leads to deepfake attacks that enable manipulation of audio or video streams to mimic any targeted person. Deepfake attacks are highly disturbing and can mislead the public, raising further challenges in policy, technology, social, and legal aspects. Instead of engaging in an endless AI arms race “fighting fire with fire”, where new Deep Learning (DL) algorithms keep making fake AVS more realistic, this paper proposes a novel approach that tackles the challenging problem of detecting deepfaked AVS data leveraging Electrical Network Frequency (ENF) signals embedded in the AVS data as a fingerprint. Under low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) conditions, Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) and Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) spectrum estimation techniques are investigated to detect the Instantaneous Frequency (IF) of interest. For reliable authentication, we enhanced the ENF signal embedded through an artificial power source in a noisy environment using the spectral combination technique and a Robust Filtering Algorithm (RFA). The proposed signal estimation workflow was deployed on a continuous audio/video input for resilience against frame manipulation attacks. A Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) approach was selected to minimize the false positive rate of signal correlations. Extensive experimental analysis for a reliable ENF edge-based estimation in deepfaked multimedia recordings is provided to facilitate the need for distinguishing artificially altered media content.

Who will I be when I retire? The role of organizational commitment, group memberships and retirement transition framing on older worker’s anticipated identity change in retirement

Retirement is an eagerly awaited life transition for many older workers, but some may anticipate their exit from the workforce will result in loss of meaningful work-based activities and social interactions. For older workers more committed to their organization, retirement might represent a threat to maintaining a consistent, positive identity. Across three pre-registered studies of US adults aged 49 to 75, we investigated the relationship between organizational commitment and anticipated identity changes in retirement. Studies 1 and 2 (N = 1059) found that older workers largely anticipated positive changes to their identity in retirement. In Study 2, we divided older workers into two conditions and used a framing manipulation to present retirement as either a ‘role exit’ or a ‘role entry’. In the ‘role exit’ condition, older workers less committed to their organization anticipated more positive changes when they held more group memberships compared to those with fewer group memberships. Those in the ‘role entry’ condition anticipated significantly more positive changes to their identity in retirement than those in the ‘role exit’ condition, but did not anticipate more positive changes based on organizational commitment or group memberships. More group memberships, but not lower organizational commitment, was associated with more positive anticipation of identity changes in retirement. Study 3 (N = 215) surveyed older adults after they had retired, finding that identity changes experienced post-retirement were less positive than those anticipated by older workers. We discuss the theoretical and applied implications of these findings for older workers’ retirement decisions and wellbeing.

Navigating a Diverse Paradigm: A Conceptual Framework for Experimental Framing Effects Research

This review introduces a conceptual framework with three elements to highlight the richness of the framing effects literature, while providing structure to address its fragmented nature. Our first element identifies and discusses the Enduring Issues that confront framing effects researchers. Second, we introduce the Semantic Architecture Model (SAM), which builds on the premise that meaning can be framed at different textual units within a text, which can form the basis of frame manipulations in framing effects experiments. Third, we provide an Inventory of Framing Effects Research Components used in framing effects research illustrated with salient examples from the framing effects literature. By offering this conceptual framework, we make the case for revitalizing framing effects research.

Explaining and promoting participation in demand response programs: The role of rational and moral motivations among German energy consumers

Demand response programs aim to increase flexibility in electricity consumption. Yet, their success hinges on a sufficient level of consumer participation, which makes it important to understand the factors that motivate participation. Though it is often assumed that consumers participate in demand response programs for the potential financial benefits, these programs can also generate collective environmental benefits, such as an increase in the share of renewable energy. Consequently, we studied potential motivations that underlie individuals’ participation in demand response programs (indicated by their acceptance, interest, and intention to participate). By examining the role of specific beliefs about costs and benefits and the role of general personal motivations (i.e., financial, environmental, and innovation-seeking) for individuals’ participation in quota schemes (a novel type of incentive-based demand response), we found that both financial and environmental beliefs underlie participation. Moreover, compared to a personal financial motivation, a personal environmental motivation (and, to a lesser extent, an innovation-seeking motivation) was both more strongly related to participation and better able to explain favorable beliefs about participation. Furthermore, we experimentally manipulated different benefits and modes of participation (through frame manipulation) and found that emphasizing the environmental benefits of participation leads to stronger acceptance and interest in participating among those strongly motivated by the environment. Conversely, this tailoring effect does not exist among those strongly financially motivated when the financial benefits are emphasized. Additionally, participation was generally higher when participation was described as voluntary compared to mandatory. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications arising from these findings.

The Role of Payoff Valence on Voting: Egalitarian for Gains and Selfish for Losses.

We study how payoff valence affects voting behavior on the distribution of monetary outcomes framed as gains or losses in a group when using standard plurality voting (PV) procedures and when using approval voting (AV). The latter method allows the subjects to approve of as many alternatives as they wish and has been shown to eliminate the incentives to vote strategically. For both methods, we observe that voters express higher support for egalitarian allocations (and lower support for selfish options) when sharing gains than when sharing losses. Moreover, the average number of approved alternatives per ballot is higher when distributions are framed in terms of gains than when they are framed in terms of losses. We also discuss under which circumstances the shift in voting behavior is more likely to produce changes in the electoral outcome. The results suggest that framing manipulations (payoff valence) can significantly impact voting behavior.

Rights and Responsibilities Are Substitutable Framings That Differentially Affect Judgment

Do employers have a responsibility to treat their workers equally or do employees have a right to be treated equally? In common discourse, rights and responsibilities are often used as substitutable framings for the same event, but they may differentially shape judgment. In this investigation, we develop an experimental manipulation of rights versus responsibilities and evaluate whether framing an arrangement between two parties in terms of rights, versus responsibilities, affects people’s judgment. We found that people judged unequal distributions between two parties as less fair when framed in terms of rights than in terms of responsibilities. Furthermore, people judged a rights framing as fairer for an unequal (vs. equal) contractual agreement. Thus, a subtle framing manipulation can increase or decrease people’s sensitivity to unequal distributions. We discuss potential mechanisms for this effect and implications for behavioral law as well as the potential to nudge people’s sensitivity to inequality.