Framing Effects Research Articles

Positive Reframing of Psychosis Risk Is Seen as More Beneficial and Less Harmful Than Negative Framing by Clinicians: An Experimental Videotaped Simulated Feedback Study.

Recent studies show that, despite providing some relief, feedback about being at risk for psychosis often triggers negative emotional reactions. Inspired by Tversky and Kahneman's (1981) work on the framing effect and medical framings that favors positive framing like "life-threatening" over "high-risk for death," this study tested the hypothesis that positive reframing of psychosis risk (PR) could alleviate these concerns. To establish the justifiability and feasibility of testing this hypothesis with patients and their families, the study first sought to test whether mental health professionals (MHPs) view positive framing as superior to present state-of-the-art approaches. The study used an experimental design utilizing a simulated feedback session, recorded with professional actors, featuring a clinician, an adolescent, and his mother. One hundred forty-eight MHPs were randomly assigned to view either negatively or positively framed feedback and were asked about its induced impact on the adolescent and mother. The study results supported our main hypothesis, indicating significant benefits of positive framing over negative in areas like empathy, stress reduction, stigma, help-seeking, and hope. Contrary to our second hypothesis, familiarity with PR did not affect these results. These findings suggest that MHPs view positive reframing of PR as more beneficial and less harmful than present negative framing approaches. This sets the stage for subsequent phases that will assess the perceptions and preferences of individuals at risk and their families. The discussion highlights possible misconceptions of positive framing, such as labeling, positive psychology, and de-medicalization.

Objective numeracy exacerbates framing effects from decision-making under political risk

While Prospect Theory helps to explain decision-making under risk, studies often base frames on hypothetical events and fail to acknowledge that many individuals lack the ability and motivation to engage in complex thinking. We use an original survey of US adults (N = 2813) to test Prospect Theory in the context of the May 2023 debt ceiling negotiations in the US Congress and assess whether objective numeracy moderates framing effects. We hypothesize and find evidence to suggest that most respondents are risk-averse to potential gains and risk-accepting to potential losses; however, high numerates are more risk-averse and risk-accepting to gains and losses, respectively, than low numerates. We also find that need for cognition interacts with numeracy to moderate framing effects for prospective losses, such that higher need for cognition attenuates risk-acceptance among low numerates and exacerbates risk-acceptance among high numerates. Our results are robust to a range of other covariates and in models accounting for the interaction between political knowledge and need for cognition, indicating joint moderating effects from two knowledge domains similarly conditioned by the desire to engage in effortful thinking. Our findings demonstrate that those who can understand and use objective information may remain subjectively persuaded by certain policy frames.

Communication Strategies to Promote COVID-19 Vaccination Intention: How Effective are Source, Appeal, Framing, and Evidence Type Approaches?

ABSTRACT This systematic review analyzed the effectiveness of key persuasive strategies – source, appeal, framing, and evidence (SAFE) – on COVID-19 vaccination intention. Quantitative studies were searched in Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed following the PRISMA guidelines. From the 61 studies that met inclusion criteria, source and framing are the most commonly applied SAFE strategies. However, source characteristics are a more consistent influence on vaccine intentions than message framing strategies, with expert sources and general practitioners emerging as the key sources contributing to greater vaccine intentions. In addition, a range of mediators and moderators influence the process through which SAFE message strategies impact vaccine intentions. Framing effects, in particular, are moderated by political identity, source characteristics, and vaccine perceptions. Tests of mediating processes highlight how health behavior judgments (e.g. perceived vaccine benefits, risks, trust in vaccination, perceived severity) and message response/perceptions (e.g. counterarguing, perceived similarity/empathy) operate as key intervening factors between SAFE message strategies and vaccine intentions. Overall, when practitioners apply various structural approaches (narrative elements, fear appeals, framing cues) to vaccine promotion campaigns, they should be cognizant of who is providing that appeal. Targeted populations may benefit most from different structural elements if they are integrated with sources that resonate with the audience.

Worrying with Children and Water in ECEC: Exploring the Pedagogical framing Effects of Actions for Climate Change

Worrying with Children and Water in ECEC: Exploring the Pedagogical framing Effects of Actions for Climate Change

“It’s My Moral Responsibility to Protect Others!” Examining the Effects of Moral Framing and Message Format on Influenza Vaccination Attitude and Intention

ABSTRACT Vaccinations serve a dual purpose: safeguarding the vaccinated individuals while also preventing potential transmission to others. However, the pro-vaccine message has primarily emphasized the personal health risks and harms of not getting vaccinated, while rarely highlighting the moral responsibility of getting vaccinated to protect others. Guided by the Model of Intuitive Morality and Exemplars (MIME) along with the narrative persuasion framework, the current study conducted a 2 (moral framing: vaccination to protect oneself vs. protect others) X 2 (message format: statistical vs. narrative) between-subject online experiment to examine the effects of moral framing and message format on vaccination decision-making. The results revealed that individuals exposed to a pro-vaccine message framing vaccination as a moral responsibility to protect others from harm reported significantly higher levels of perceived moral responsibility and elevation, more positive attitudes toward the flu vaccine, and an increased intention to get vaccinated compared to a pro-vaccine message emphasizing vaccination for self-protection. Counterintuitively, presenting the moral responsibility of receiving the flu vaccine to safeguard others in a statistical format was discovered to be more effective in fostering favorable attitudes toward vaccination and increasing the intention to get vaccinated. This study offers a valuable insight: promoting vaccination as a moral duty could be a promising strategy for motivating individuals to get vaccinated.

Support for Social Movements

The factors that contribute to support for social movements and penalizing extreme protest actions are not well understood; this study aims to identify those factors. We tested three hypotheses in this study. Hypothesis 1 expects that support for the goal of the movement will go down when presented with more extreme protest actions. Hypothesis 2 predicts that the size of the extremity penalty will depend on the framing of the movement (group versus goal of the movement). Hypothesis 3 predicts that the effect of framing on the size of extremity penalty will depend on the described morality of the movement. One pilot study and two experimental studies were conducted, with a 2x2 manipulation and ratings of ten protest actions. Data were collected via an online survey (consisting of 336 undergraduate students) and were analyzed using multilevel models. Results showed that as protest actions became more extreme, support for the movement decreased. Study 1A found larger extremity penalties when the framing of the movement was focused on the group compared to the goal of the movement. Additionally, morality moderated the interaction of framing and extremity. Study 1B found larger extremity penalties when the group was perceived as highly moral. This study identified that extremity levels, framings of the movement and perceived morality act as factors influencing extremity penalties. Identifying these factors encourages a better understanding of how social movements can become more effective. For the full text, please visit https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/pv63g1800.

Scientific Advice and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Revisiting the Asian Disease Problem

Abstract The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has underscored the importance of scientific knowledge and highlighted the challenge for politicians: They had to rely on expert advice and still had to make decisions under uncertainty due to the lack of long-term health data. This article investigates how expert judgments and expert advice affect the choices between programs that are proposed to combat the outbreak of a viral disease by means of a between-subjects design embedded in a survey. We use the classic Asian disease experiment and extend earlier applications by varying the professional background of the experts (virologists vs. social scientists) within the experimental set-up. We use data from a university wide web-survey to show the persistence of framing effects and that the disciplinary background of the expert is not related to individual decision-making under risk.

Behavioral Finance: The Impact of Investor Expectation on Financial Decision-Making

Behavioral finance challenges traditional financial theories by questioning the assumption of investor rationality, highlighting the influence of cognitive biases, emotions, and psychological factors on decision-making. This deviation from conventional models like the Efficient Market Hypothesis recognizes the complexity of human decision-making in financial contexts. The field focuses on key phenomena: loss aversion, market anomalies, the framing effect, and the endowment effect. Loss aversion reveals a stronger reaction to losses than equivalent gains, influencing overly cautious decisions. Market anomalies, such as momentum and trend reversals, challenge efficient market expectations. The framing effect shows how decision-making is swayed by information presentation. The endowment effect impacts perceived asset value, affecting financial decisions. These biases significantly impact investor behavior, potentially leading to suboptimal portfolio choices. Recognizing these biases is crucial for making informed financial decisions. Behavioral finance research has profound implications, emphasizing the integration of behavioral insights with traditional models. Future studies should explore cumulative behavioral effects, conduct cross-cultural analyses, and investigate diverse market conditions for more effective investment strategies and regulations. Understanding global financial behavior through behavioral finance is essential for comprehensive insights into market dynamics and decision-making processes.

Preventing bypass on sharing economy platforms: The impact of message framing on users’ bypass intention

Bypass happens when sharing economy users intentionally circumvent platforms’ payment process to transact directly with each other. For sharing platforms, it is a form of dark behavior that could represent a threat. This study focuses on the mitigation of bypass and whether message framing can reduce bypass, examining the impact of a negatively-framed message (highlighting risks and disadvantages associated with bypass) and a positively-framed message (highlighting benefits associated with finalizing the payment on the platform). Based on an experiment (N = 600), results show that both messages impact bypass intention significantly, especially the negatively-framed message. Moreover, our model unravels insights into some of the mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of different message frames: both messages impact directly bypass intention, however, while the negative message reduces bypass indirectly via reduced perceived economic benefit and increased perceived risk, the corresponding indirect effects of the positive message are non significant.

Persepsi Wajib Pajak pada Pembingkaian Pemberitaan Kasus Penghindaran Pajak dalam Keputusan Kepatuhan Pajak

Framing causes individuals to have different behavior in making various decisions. In this research, the framing of tax avoidance news is one of the factors in taxpayers' perceptions of whether or not they will remain compliant with taxes after reading tax avoidance news. This research aims to find out how taxpayers perceive the framing of tax avoidance news in tax compliance decisions using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) which are used as a basis for explaining changes in individual behavior when receiving the framing effect. This descriptive research was carried out by collecting primary data on the population, namely taxpayers in Pontianak City, West Kalimantan. This research data was collected from May to June 2023. Data was collected using interview techniques. Respondents in this study were selected using a purposive sampling technique. The findings in this research are the perception that taxpayers still choose to comply with taxes after hearing news about tax avoidance, which means that taxpayers think that news about tax avoidance is framed positively.

Problems of the US Recycling Programs: What Experienced Recycling Program Managers Tell

Recycling is a cornerstone of waste management. Despite its significance and growing interest, the US recycling rate has stagnated at around 35% for more than the past decade. In this study, we investigate an effective waste collection method as well as factors that may negatively affect recycling program management as a proxy measure of the recycling rate. To this end, recycling program managers and coordinators were surveyed since they play a pivotal role in the flow of recyclable materials. We found a combination of curbside and drop-off recycling to be the most cost-effective, but when managers’ experience level is factored in, the perceived significance of the combination approach decreases. Concerning barriers to recycling, we found that market variability for recycled materials, insufficient public participation in waste collection, and knowledge of best practices are critical inhibiting factors. In addition, China’s complete ban on waste import by 2030, an organizational framing effect of recycling, and a strong need for public education and outreach activities about recycling have emerged as new problems for recycling. Our findings point out recycling systems that reduce those setbacks to improve recycling performance and increase the recycling rate.

COVID-19 vaccine messaging for young adults: Examining framing, other-referencing, and health beliefs.

This study investigates the interaction between message framing and point-of-reference (self vs. others) for vaccine benefits on young adults' COVID-19 vaccine confidence and intentions. It also examines how COVID-19-related health beliefs-such as perceived severity of COVID-19 and perceived benefits of obtaining the vaccine to protect others-mediate these interactions. In a 2 (framing: gain vs. loss) × 3 (reference point: self, others, university community) between-subjects experiment (Fall 2021), 202 participants ages 18-23 were shown animated messages with embedded manipulations to convey vaccine information. Moderated mediation models tested the conditional indirect effects of framing on vaccine confidence and intentions. Reference point significantly moderated the effect of framing on the perceived severity of COVID-19. More specifically, and somewhat contrary to previous literature, perceived severity was highest when messages emphasized gains for others. In turn, perceived severity correlated positively with vaccine confidence and intentions, resulting in a significant conditional indirect effect. Despite its positive relationship with COVID-19 vaccine confidence and intentions, perceived benefit to others was not a significant mediator. This study provides evidence for the role of reference point in moderating the effect of gain-loss message framing on COVID-19 vaccine attitudes and intentions. However, the findings differ from past research, suggesting other-gain messages may be an optimal strategy for promoting these vaccine outcomes for young adults. Overall, findings have implications for developing tailored messaging strategies that account for the nature of targeted populations and the evolving perceptions of the disease and its associated messaging campaigns. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of COVID-19 vaccine safety framing on parental reactions.

As a major concern shared by parents globally, COVID-19 vaccine safety is typically being messaged to the public in a negative frame in many countries. However, whether the COVID-19 vaccine safety framing have an effect on parents when vaccinating their children is unclear. Here we implement an online survey with a convenience sample of 3,861 parents living in mainland China, all over 18 years old and with at least one child under 18. The parents were randomly assigned to receive information about COVID-19 vaccine safety in either a negative frame (incidence of side effects) or a positive frame (the inverse incidence of side effects), to compare parental reactions to a range of questions about communication, risk perception, trust, involvement and behavioral intention. We found that parents were more likely to regard vaccine safety as relevant to policy support and as a higher priority for government when receiving positively framed information (p = 0.002). For some specific subgroups, parents in positive framing group showed lower risk perception and higher trust (p<0.05). This suggests that positive framing of COVID-19 vaccine safety messages show more effective performance than negative framing in terms of involvement, as well as trust and risk perception in specific subgroups, which may lead to a reflection on whether to adjust the current widespread use of negative framing. Our findings inform how governments and health care workers strategically choose the framing design of COVID-19 vaccine safety information, and have important implications for promoting COVID-19 vaccination in children in the future.

Association of temporal discounting with transdiagnostic symptom dimensions.

Temporal discounting (TD), the tendency to devalue future rewards as a function of delay until receipt, is aberrant in many mental disorders. Identifying symptom patterns and transdiagnostic dimensions associated with TD could elucidate mechanisms responsible for clinically impaired decision-making and facilitate identifying intervention targets. Here, we tested in a general population sample (N = 731) the extent to which TD was related to different symptom patterns and whether effects of time framing (dates/delay units) and monetary magnitude (large/small) had particularly strong effects in people scoring higher on specific symptom patterns. Analyses revealed that TD was related to symptom patterns loading on anxious-depression and inattention-impulsivity-overactivity dimensions. Moreover, TD was lower in the date than the delay version and with higher magnitudes, especially in people scoring higher on the inattention-impulsivity-overactivity dimension. Overall, this study provides evidence for TD as a transdiagnostic process across affective and impulsivity-related dimensions. Future studies should test framing interventions in clinical populations characterized by impulsivity.Preregistration: This research was preregistered at https://osf.io/fg9sc .

Framing brand concept of vertical line extensions: The moderating role of believability

AbstractThis article examines the influence of framing a brand's concept as functional versus symbolic in the advertising of a new vertical line extension. In this research, we carried out two online experiments and collected data from 415 participants recruited from MTurk to investigate the moderating role of believability on the effect of brand concept framing on consumers' purchase intentions of vertical line extensions. The results indicate that (i) consumers evaluate a vertical extension advertising message more positively when it is framed in a consistent manner with the targeted price/quality segment and not with its parent brand or existing product line and that (ii) this effect is moderated by consumer believability such that an advertising framing effect is found for high, but not low, in believability. Perceptions of category fit mediate the relationship between framing brand concept and the evaluation of the extension. This study contributes to the advertising and marketing literature by exploring how consumers can interpret brand concept framing in advertising messages of vertical line extensions differently depending on their level of believability and, in turn, influence their purchase intentions.

Effects of Feedback about Overhead Spending from Charitable Organizations on Overhead Aversion

ABSTRACT Charitable organizations spend donated funds for programs and overhead. Donors expect their donated money to be used to help the cause rather than the overhead (i.e. overhead aversion). Donors expect feedback on the use of their donated money for helping the cause and for overhead. However, donors seldom receive proper feedback from charities, which is one of the reasons for not continuing donation. This paper highlights the importance of transparent feedback that presents information on the use of donated funds to help the cause and for overhead. Study 1 shows that attitude toward the charity is more favorable when the feedback is transparent than opaque. Study 2 shows that the transparent (vs. opaque) feedback sequentially affects perceived donation impact, charity attitude, and donation intention. Study 3 tests the framing effect of the feedback message. Donors perceive the impact of donation to be greater when the feedback on overhead presents the amount spent in terms of helping the cause than the amount spent on overhead.

Effects of message frames and visual cues on cell-cultured meat communication: sensation seeking as a moderator

Cell-cultured meat presents environmental and ethical advantages; however, negative public acceptance remains a significant hurdle. To generate more effective public engagement on this topic, we conducted two online experiments exploring the impact of message framing and food cues (Experiment 1) and the moderating role of an individual's personality trait, sensation seeking, (Experiment 2) on the perception of cultured meat news shared via social media. Our findings revealed that messages employing individual benefit-framing, as opposed to societal benefit-framing, resulted in more positive perceptions of cultured meat. Incorporating direct food cues in the communication led to reduced risk perception, a more favorable attitude, and increased intention to purchase cultured meat. Furthermore, sensation seeking was shown to be a significant moderator for the effects of the message features. Theoretical and practical contributions are discussed.

Framing effects on sustainable behavior

AbstractThe impacts of climate change are profound and widespread. Investigating the impact of strategic climate change communication is crucial for informing effective communication strategies and ultimately driving meaningful action toward addressing climate change. This research aims to develop effective climate change communication on Facebook with the objective of fostering sustainable behavior. It seeks to accomplish this by evaluating the influence of strategic climate change frames on sustainable behavior intentions and examining the moderating effect of greenwash awareness. We conducted two experimental studies: A 10 (frames) x 2 (greenwash awareness: high vs. low) between‐subject experiment with 710 responses and a 25 (frames) x 2 (greenwash awareness: high vs. low) between‐subject experiment with 1586 responses. Results indicate that communication framed in natural well‐being, sustainable expertise, and environmental frames encouraged sustainable behavior more than other frames. Multiple frames are more persuasive than single frames in increasing the intention of sustainable action. Greenwash awareness exerts moderating impacts on the framing effects. The current research is the first exploration to shed light on framing strategies of climate change communications by taking non‐climate frames and greenwash awareness into consideration. We offer actionable insights into how enterprises can strategically use frames to improve performance and accountability in sustainable development.

The role of framing and effort in green nudging acceptance

Abstract Whether nudges succeed in promoting pro-environmental behavior strongly depends on their public acceptance. Prior literature shows that the framing of nudges, i.e., whether they address the individual (personal framing) or the society (societal framing), is one critical factor in determining nudging acceptance. Since a personal framing highlights the costs individuals have to bear to comply, we hypothesize that people accept nudges more when addressing the general public rather than themselves personally. We expect the framing effect to be stronger for nudges that elicit high-effort behavior than low-effort behavior. Results of multilevel linear regression analyses in two online experiments (nStudy 1 = 294, nobs = 4,410; nStudy 2 = 565, nobs = 11,300) reveal an opposite pattern: People accept nudges more when personally (vs societally) framed. As predicted, nudges receive higher support when the promoted behavior is perceived as low effort. Exploratory path analysis in Study 2 shows that the perceived effectiveness of the nudge mediates the positive relation between personal framing and nudging acceptance. This project provides novel insights on facilitators and barriers in nudging acceptance and their implications for policy-making.

Finding the Right Voice: How CEO Communication on the Russia–Ukraine War Drives Public Engagement and Digital Activism

This research examines the influence of CEO versus brand communication on public engagement and digital activism during the Russia–Ukraine war. Brand communication refers to messages sent out through an organization's social media accounts, whereas CEO communication comes from the executive's personal account. The authors depart from an analysis of 236,119 tweets investigating the effects of message sender (CEO vs. brand), message framing (self vs. other), and message appeal (informational vs. emotional) on engagement (i.e., likes, retweets, and replies). To further understand, they subsequently deploy a 2 × 2 between-subjects design (N = 608) that introduces scenarios where either a CEO or brand proposes a public policy campaign, advocating support for U.S. citizens (self framing) or Ukrainian civilians (other framing). Key findings reveal that CEO communications foster greater engagement and digital activism than brand messages. CEO communication that merges self framed with informational appeals or other framed with emotional appeals outperforms brand messages regarding public engagement. In addition, CEO campaigns centered on Ukrainian civilians amplify digital activism, mirroring findings when brands approach the war's implications for U.S. citizens. Together, these insights unveil the intricate dance of message sender, framing, and appeal during global geopolitical events, providing vital knowledge for organizations and policy makers aiming to optimize public backing in times of war.