Positive Framing Research Articles

Framing dementia experiences in a positive light: Conversational practices in one couple living with dementia.

The general approach to a life with dementia is negatively charged, and alternative views are rarely found in research or in media coverage. This case-study explores conversational practices for framing dementia in a more positive light, employed by a husband of a wife with dementia. Framing regards the structured experiences of dementia, drawing on Goffman’s ‘Frame Analysis’. Benefitting from conversation analysis, this article presents principal results of four conversational practices used by the spouse without dementia: mitigating trouble, normalising trouble, justifying trouble, and praising. The conclusions drawn are that the practices contribute to the challenging of the dominant negative framework of the dementia experience, as they facilitate talk which emphasises the wife with dementia’s positive progression and skills in managing the household chores. Despite a positive framing of dementia, this couple still embed their talk in the overall negative framework of loss and decreased cognitive competence. The visualisation of a positive framing could add to a broadened view of dementia, which in turn could contribute to greater well-being for those affected. However, the results may also imply a risk of one spouse’s conversational practices of normalising and mitigating trouble being dominant in interaction and thereby neglecting the other spouse’s experience of the situation.

Moderating reference group and message framing influences on sustainable surplus food consumption advertising appeals

ABSTRACT This paper examines how injunctive, descriptive, and benefit appeals encourage consumers to engage in unfamiliar ‘sustainable behaviours’ – specifically, the consumption of surplus food, defined as edible foods that are never sold to or consumed by targeted customers. Three experiments involving 815 participants were run to assess reference group and message framing types as moderators of advertising appeal influence. Results indicate a significant interactive effect between reference group and advertising appeal on sustainable food consumption practices. For descriptive appeals, membership groups were the most effective for promoting sustainable food consumption; for injunctive and benefit appeals, aspirational groups were the most effective. Interaction between advertising appeal and message framing also exerted a significant effect on sustainable food consumption behaviours, with descriptive and benefit appeals the most effective when used with positive message framing, and injunctive appeals the most effective when used with negative message framing.

Hate Speech and LGBT Media Framing Effects among Community

The development of communication technology facilitates the users to get fast and easy information. Furthermore, with this platform all users will create and upload news content, and interested readers can get it through social media. The attainability can be seen to have either negative or positive possibilities. This study conducted took the example of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issue as the core on how negative media content display gives different effect whether to the change of attitude and behaviour of an individual. Using experimental study approach, this study will have some main objectives namely to see the hate speech display effect related to LGBT on individual. Second, compares positive or negative message or news display on change of attitude and behaviour of an individual. The analysis using descriptive analysis and Paired Sample T-Test and Analysis of Variants (ANOVA) will idenfity how far the hate speech message display effect on an individual. The findings show that positive frame gives effect compared to the negative frame on readers’ attitude and behaviour. Besides that, significant change towards the change of attitude compared to the change of behaviour.

Tax morale: Framing and fairness

Tax morale has been a focus of academics and policy makers for some time. The measurement of individuals’ tax morale is subjective, and various proxies have been employed in qualitative and quantitative research. The framing of these measures has been considered in some research with respect to equivalency or goal framing, but the underlying implication of emphasis framing in commonly used proxies has yet to be considered. Further, although fairness and financial literacy have been considered determinants of tax morale, no one has yet considered whether financial and tax literacy (FTL) has a moderating effect on fairness and tax morale.This research addresses these gaps in the literature. The findings suggest that questions and scenarios posed by academics and policy makers should consider positive, negative, and emphasis framing, as well as the moderating effect of the respondents’ FTL to measure individuals’ tax morale effectively. The findings also suggest that raising levels of FTL could have a double dividend: not only will improved FTL have a positive impact on tax morale, but it might be magnified through the impact of fairness. These findings hold only when morale is determined by negatively framed scenarios. In particular, the perceived fairness of the tax system enhances tax morale when FTL is high, whereas the perception of fairness has no effect on tax morale for respondents with lower levels of FTL.

How consumer opinions are affected by marketers: an empirical examination by deep learning approach

PurposeThe natural language processing (NLP) technique enables machines to understand human language. This paper seeks to harness its power to recognise the interaction between marketers and consumers. Hence, this study aims to enhance the conceptual and future development of deep learning in interactive marketing.Design/methodology/approachThis study measures cognitive responses by using actual user postings. Following a typical NLP analysis pipeline with tailored neural network (NN) models, it presents a stylised quantitative method to manifest the underlying relation.FindingsBased on consumer-generated content (CGC) and marketer-generated content (MGC) in the tourism industry, the results reveal that marketers and consumers interact in a subtle way. This study explores beyond simple positive and negative framing, and reveals that they do not resemble each other, not even in abstract form: CGC may complement MGC, but they are incongruent. It validates and supplements preceding findings in the framing effect literature and underpins some marketing wisdom in practice.Research limitations/implicationsThis research inherits a fundamental limitation of NN model that result interpretability is low. Also, the study may capture the partial phenomenon exhibited by active reviewers; lurker-consumers may behave differently.Originality/valueThis research is among the first to explore the interactive aspect of the framing effect with state-of-the-art deep learning language model. It reveals research opportunities by using NLP-extracted latent features to assess textual opinions. It also demonstrates the accessibility of deep learning tools. Practitioners could use the described blueprint to foster their marketing initiatives.

Stop and start control at work: Differential validity of two types of self‐control for work behavior and emotion regulation

AbstractSelf‐control enables people to regulate their emotions, desires, cognitions, and behaviors. We distinguish between two types of self‐control (i.e., inhibitory/stop‐control and initiatory/start‐control), revised De Boer et al.'s stop/start‐control scales (Study 1), and examined their value in predicting work‐related behavior and emotion regulation among employees in a two‐wave design (Study 2). The findings show that stop‐ and start‐control have differential predictive validity: Stop‐control relates negatively to counterproductive work behavior and positively to expressive suppression, whereas start‐control relates positively to increasing challenging job demands (job crafting), cognitive reappraisal, and positive framing. Moreover, usefulness analyses supported the incremental validity of the narrow stop/start‐control facets beyond general trait self‐control. These findings illustrate the value of stop/start‐control at work, further substantiate stop/start‐control theory, and suggest organizations should take stop/start‐control into account (e.g., in personnel selection, job design).

Death-related anxiety associated with riskier decision-making irrespective of framing: A Bayesian model comparison

A commonly reported finding is that anxious individuals are less likely to make risky decisions. However, no studies have examined whether this association extends to death-related anxiety. The present study examined how groups low, moderate, and high in death-related anxiety make decisions with varying levels of risk. Participants completed a series of hypothetical bets in which the probability of a win was systematically manipulated. High-anxiety individuals displayed the greatest risk-taking behavior, followed by the moderate-anxiety group, with the low-anxiety group being most risk-averse. Experiment 2 tested this association further by framing outcomes in terms of losses, rather than gains. A similar pattern was observed with both positive and negative framing. In contrast to findings with trait anxiety, the present results suggest that death-related anxiety is positively associated with risky decision-making – an effect that holds regardless of how options are framed. Furthermore, the present study demonstrates that Bayesian modeling can provide very accurate predictions for economic decision-making behavior.

"You Just Have to Keep Going, You Can't Give Up": Coping mechanisms among young adults with lupus transferring to adult care.

Coping mechanisms and emotional regulation are important contributors to psychosocial health during stressful life events. We sought to describe the coping and emotional responses of persons with childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus during the transfer from pediatric to adult healthcare. Semi-structured in-depth one-on-one interviews were conducted with 13 young women aged 18-24 of minority background who had transferred to adult care in a public hospital system. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes motifs from the data. Participants described the use of (1) problem-focused coping such as the use of clear communication and self-education, (2) adaptive emotion-focused coping such as cognitive reframing and acceptance, (3) social coping including support-seeking, (4) meaning-making coping including positive religious framing and viewing events as learning opportunities for growth, and (5) disengaged coping including denial and social isolation. A range of emotional responses associated with the transfer were described including fear, anger, loss, and feelings of empowerment and excitement. Effective coping and emotional regulation are modifiable factors that may impact transfer-related outcomes and psychosocial health. Addressing coping mechanisms is relevant to the optimized transfer to adult care.

Negative or Negated, Thus True? An Investigation of Concept Valence and Semantic Negation as Drivers of Framing Effects in Judgments of Truth

The negativity bias in judgments of truth holds that content-wise identical statements are more likely to be judged as true when presented in a negative compared to positive concept frame. This article investigates the mechanisms underlying this concept frame effect by differentiating concept valence (something good versus bad) and semantic negation (grammatical operator) throughout five studies. We found some evidence that concept valence and semantic negation work in tandem to produce the concept frame, yet negation seems to be the more stable driver. Moreover, we found that negation exerts its impact on perceived truth by increasing the realm of possible states in which a specific statement can be true. Together, the present findings extend knowledge of the negativity bias in truth judgments by providing a more fine-grained picture of “negativity” and an explanation for why negation might be especially effective in increasing truth judgments.

Supervisors' knowledge hiding and knowledge-based trust: from the lens of social impact theory

PurposePast studies have largely focused on leaders' influence on employees' attitudes and behaviors, largely ignoring the followership and its consequences. This study investigates the social impact that followers induce on leaders through their intentions and actions. Following social impact theory (SIT), this study contributes to the growing research on supervisory knowledge hiding (KH) and related positive consequences beyond the traditional leader-centered approach. This paper investigates the serial mediation link between supervisory KH and supervisory knowledge-based trust (KBT) via perceived prosocial impact and supervisor directed citizenship behavior.Design/methodology/approachTime-lagged dyadic data of 348 employees working in a bank under 54 supervisors were collected from Saudi Arabia.FindingsThe findings suggest that supervisory KH entails a potential prosocial impact on employees to engage in supervisor-directed citizenship behavior that builds the KBT in supervisors about subordinates. The empirical support provides an understanding of the social impact of subordinates' influence on supervisors above and beyond traditional leadership literature by depicting the active role of followers in influencing leaders' behavior in building trust in knowledge management. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are also discussed.Originality/valueBy studying the followership effect on leadership, this study extends the social impact process beyond a social phenomenon to the workplace in a supervisor–subordinate relationship. Moreover, examining the positive framing of a leader's KH to transform such behaviors through active followership role provides a new insight into positive consequences of supervisory behavior through social impact.

Investigating pre-service EFL teachers’ and teacher educators’ experience and attitudes towards online interaction tools

This study investigated pre-service English language teachers’ and their instructors’ experience with using online interaction tools, their views of the effectiveness of interaction tools in language development, their attitudes to implementing the tools, and the challenges they face in online interaction. The participants were 100 MA students of TEFL and 7 teacher educators at Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST). The data collection instruments included four questionnaires on experience, knowledge, attitudes, and challenges of using online interaction tools in English language classes. A semi-structured interview was also conducted to examine teacher educators’ views of online interaction. The results revealed that pre-service teachers were not aware of all online interaction tools and their effectiveness in language development; they had a positive frame of mind regarding implementing interaction tools in language classes; and their most frequent challenges included lack of adequate technical infrastructure, knowledge, and collaboration. The results also showed that teacher educators held the view that interaction tools can foster interaction according to the nature and content of a course and that they are effective for online classes, traditional classes, and outside classroom activities to enhance language learning. Some barriers, such as technical issues, inadequate pedagogical and technological knowledge, learners’ anxiety, and limited online participation were also emphasized. To construct a successful online learning community, teacher educators are recommended to enhance pre-service teachers’ awareness of online interaction tools and their implementation in English language classes.

A systematic review of the effects of positive versus negative framing on cancer treatment decision making

Objective Presenting treatment outcomes positively or negatively may differently influence treatment preferences and lead to sub-optimal decision in a medical context. This review systematically organised how positive versus negative framing of treatment outcomes influenced cancer treatment decisions of cancer patients and individuals without a cancer diagnosis. Design Three databases (PubMed, PsycInfo and Scopus) were searched for studies reporting the effects of positive versus negative framing on cancer treatment decision-making from 1981 to December 2020. Main Outcome Measure The effects of positive versus negative framing on cancer treatment preferences and the elimination of framing effect were evaluated. Results A total of 12 studies that met inclusion criteria were reviewed. Framing effect was consistently observed in individuals without a cancer diagnosis. There was not enough evidence to suggest a robust framing effect in cancer patients. Surgery was preferred in positive framing, whereas adjuvant therapy was preferred in negative framing. Justification intervention significantly eliminated framing effect. Mixed framing failed to eliminate framing effect. Conclusion Current recommendations for presenting treatment options are based on research in cancer-screening decision-making. Knowledge of how positive versus negative framing affect cancer patients’ treatment decisions is still limited. Our review highlighted the need for continued research in this area.

Effects of message framing and consumers' regulatory focus on perceived credibility of electronic word-of-mouth and purchase intention

We adopted a two-way analysis of variance to evaluate the effect of positive and negative message framing and consumers' regulatory focus (promotion- and prevention-focused) on the perceived credibility of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and purchase intention. Participants were 344 adults in Taiwan aged between 20 and 60 years. Results show that (a) prevention-focused (vs. promotion-focused) consumers perceived eWOM had greater credibility when they were presented with a negatively framed message, (b) negative (vs. positive) message framing increased the perceived credibility of eWOM for prevention-focused consumers, (c) promotion-focused (vs. preventionfocused) consumers had a stronger purchase intention when presented with a positively framed message, and (d) both prevention- and promotion-focused consumers had stronger purchase intention when exposed to a positively (vs. negatively) framed message. Our findings may provide a reference for companies to establish a set of eWOM marketing strategies.

Noisy monsters or beacons of transition: The framing and social (un)acceptance of Dutch community renewable energy initiatives

Energy Community Initiatives (ECIs) present important beacons in moving to a more sustainable energy provision at household level. The success of ECIs, however, depends on how they are framed as socially acceptable in and around the locations where they are active. Using framing analysis, this paper examines the framing of three urban and seven rural Dutch ECI cases in the period 1989–2017. Key questions are: how have Dutch ECIs been framed in the regional and national press through time, concerning their (positive) contribution to the energy transition and their support, versus (negative) perceptions of ineffectiveness and resistance? Second, to what extent does framing manifest spatial (urban versus rural) and scalar (regional versus national) patterns and divides? The data consists of 527 newspaper expressions focusing on six themes (economic, environmental, social, political, local-development, innovation). Results show that ECIs generally meet a positive framing, emphasizing economic, environmental and community benefits. However, this positivity is primarily related to the instrumental need for ECIs to prove community acceptance rather than exposing ECIs’ strategic roles in promoting the energy transition. Only in urban centres we find relatively more attention for ECIs’ transformational role. We suggest that the energy transition still stands to benefit from a stronger advocacy of ECIs’ contribution notably through a better strategic and spatial framing. This may serve to overcome continuing resistance in more rural locations.

Time to Transition: Barriers and Opportunities to Farmer Adoption of Soil GHG Mitigation Practices in Dutch Agriculture

As the second largest exporter of agricultural products worldwide, the Netherlands is a production hub, a leading example of high yields per hectare. However, this productivity includes intensive farming practices, placing a risk on the climate through the emission of greenhouse gases N2O and CO2 from soil. To meet global efforts, the Netherlands must reduce its climatic impact, including soil emissions, but the transition to alternative farming practices can be challenging. This research identifies the barriers and opportunities for arable farmers to adopt practices which mitigate emissions from agricultural soils, and consists of a literature review, informant interviews, and semi-structured interviews with farmers, policy-makers, and boundary organizations. Main findings are (1) a lack of awareness by farmers of their soil greenhouse gas production, and (2) six barriers and five opportunities for farmer adoption with placement of these findings into different steps of adoption. Critical barriers include economic challenges, personal mindset, on-farm complications, and the need to reconcile different stakeholders' rates of adoption. Opportunities lie with farmers becoming interested and able to quantify soil health, positive framing in the media, and policies or economic mechanisms to assist farmers. If the Netherlands can transition its farming system, the opportunities for the global food system could be significant.

Impact of digital nudging on information security behavior: an experimental study on framing and priming in cybersecurity

PurposePhishing attacks are the most common cyber threats targeted at users. Digital nudging in the form of framing and priming may reduce user susceptibility to phishing. This research focuses on two types of digital nudging, framing and priming, and examines the impact of framing and priming on users' behavior (i.e. action) in a cybersecurity setting. It draws on prospect theory, instance-based learning theory and dual-process theory to generate the research hypotheses.Design/methodology/approachA 3 × 2 experimental study was carried out to test the hypotheses. The experiment consisted of three levels for framing (i.e. no framing, negative framing and positive framing) and two levels for priming (i.e. with and without priming).FindingsThe findings suggest that priming users to information security risks reduces their risk-taking behavior, whereas positive and negative framing of information security messages regarding potential consequences of the available choices do not change users' behavior. The results also indicate that risk-averse cybersecurity behavior is associated with greater confidence with the action, greater perceived severity of cybersecurity risks, lower perceived susceptibility to cybersecurity risks resulting from the action and lower trust in the download link.Originality/valueThis research shows that digital nudging in the form of priming is an effective way to reduce users' exposure to cybersecurity risks.

Religious Responses to Social Distancing Revealed through Memes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article examines the emotive narratives surrounding the “new normal” of social distancing practices during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, as revealed by religion-focused Internet memes. In March 2020, many people were introduced to the concept of “social distancing” for the first time via news reports and media coverage of the spreading COVID-19 pandemic which led to the first lockdown. As the year progressed, social distancing discourse was combined with discussion of the practices of masking and quarantining, all of which became part of many countries’ normal routines as a public health management strategy. Over time, social distancing has become a widely used public health strategy impacting many social groups, including religious adherents and their places of worship. Memes became a discursive space where practices of social distancing and religious attitudes towards these practices were expressed and debated. By examining memes centered on American Christianity, this study reveals that memetic narratives in the early months of the pandemic indicate a positive framing of behaviors intended to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, and a negative framing of the attitudes of religious individuals and organizations who seem to privilege the cultural practices of their belief over the core values of the Christian faith.

Bottled water usage and willingness to pay among Indian tourists: visual nudges and the theory of planned behaviour

ABSTRACT Consumption of bottled water creates large amounts of non-biodegradable plastic waste that poses a serious threat to marine life. Single-use plastic bags have been banned in several states in India. However, bottled water usage is still widely prevalent. We use Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour to understand how beliefs, attitudes, social norms, perceived costs, and perceived benefits affect tourists’ intentions to reduce bottled water usage. We use visual cues to compare the effect of positive and negative framing on tourists’ behavioural intentions and their willingness to pay an environmental tax. Pro-environmental beliefs, attitudes, and social norms affect tourists’ intention to carry their own water. Perceived costs such as the inconvenience of carrying water and changing habits are the primary barriers to eco-friendly intentions. Negative visual cues that nudge the tourist to be aware of environmental costs increase the willingness to pay an environmental tax but do not affect behavioural intentions. Women are more environmentally friendly than men, both with respect to behavioural intentions and willingness to pay. This study is the first to provide insight into the pro-environmental behavioural intentions of Indian tourists. Increasing consumer awareness and providing alternatives for clean drinking water may reduce bottled water consumption.

The health-economy trade-off during the Covid-19 pandemic:Communication matters.

How do people balance concerns for general health and economic outcomes during a pandemic? And, how does the communication of this trade-off affect individual preferences? We address these questions using a field experiment involving around 2000 students enrolled in a large university in Italy. We design four treatments where the trade-off is communicated using different combinations of a positive framing that focuses on protective strategies and a negative framing which refers to potential costs. We find that positive framing on the health side induces students to give greater relevance to the health dimension. The effect is sizeable and highly effective among many different audiences, especially females. Importantly, this triggers a higher level of intention to adhere to social distancing and precautionary behaviors. Moreover, irrespective of the framing, we find a large heterogeneity in students’ preferences over the trade-off. Economics students and students who have directly experienced the economic impact of the pandemic are found to give greater value to economic outcomes.

Acknowledging and assessing implicit bias among healthcare professionals: A randomized controlled trial

Implicit bias, defined as the attitudes or stereotypes that affect understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner, results in substandard health care and propagates health disparities. The extent of implicit bias among healthcare professionals is unknown but could break down the cohesive team dynamic required for providing optimal patient care. and Outcomes: This randomized controlled trial sought to evaluate implicit bias of pharmacists toward other health professionals (HP) and develop a positive framing intervention to reduce implicit bias toward the most biased HP. The primary outcome was the level of implicit bias of pharmacists towards physicians, nurses, and other pharmacists as a group. Secondary outcomes included the change in implicit bias levels from baseline to after the framing intervention. Pharmacist participants recruited from a pharmacy practice listserv completed a baseline Implicit Attitudes Test (IAT) and explicit attitude questionnaire. A positively framed passage was written about the HP with the most negative bias as identified from the baseline IAT. After a 16-week washout, participants were randomized to read the positively framed passage (intervention) or neutral passage (control) and retake the IAT. Comparison of standardized difference in reaction times of the IAT (D-score) between HP groups was done using a linear fixed model. Fifty-seven pharmacists completed the full study. Pharmacists had statistically higher D-scores toward physicians (0.26, SD 0.41, p = 0.002) and nurses (0.2, SD 0.34, p = 0.03) than toward other pharmacists (0.09, SD 0.36). A positive framing passage was written about pharmacists as the HP with the least positive attitudes. Pharmacist implicit attitudes towards other pharmacist grew more positive between the phases in the intervention group compared to other HPs (p = 0.03). Pharmacists’ implicit attitudes toward other pharmacists, physicians, and nurses is more positive than toward the general public, but it is lower towards pharmacist colleagues than physicians or nurses. Positively framed passages can improve subconscious bias among healthcare professionals and contribute to a cohesive interprofessional team dynamic.