Relational Framing Theory Research Articles

Predicting compliance with interpersonal masking requests: insights from relational framing and reactance theories

ABSTRACT During the COVID-19 pandemic, myriad factors contributed to disagreements around the use of masks to curb the public health crisis. Against this backdrop, this study spotlights how interactional processes predict masking compliance following an interpersonal discussion. The sample included 345 U.S. adults who were requested to put on a face mask in a conversation. The results showed control variables, such as gender, political orientation, and attitude toward masking, are associated with post-interaction masking compliance. Controlling for these factors, involvement and reactance both reduced compliance; involvement amplified the negative impact of reactance on compliance, supporting the general intensifier hypothesis in relational framing theory. The discussion advocates for a close examination of interpersonal conversations as a result of health campaigns.

An Analysis and Comparison of the Instructor-Student Relationship Using Relational Framing Theory

This study extended previous research on interpersonal dynamics between instructors and students by applying relational framing theory to participants’ (N = 544) reports on instructor-student relationships, compared to friends, family members, roommates, and significant others. The instructor-student relationship was similar to other relationships in dominance, similar to the roommate in involvement, and least like any relationship in affiliation. The affiliation frame was most salient in each relationship. In support of the intensifier hypothesis, affiliation was correlated with involvement in all relationships except the instructor-student relationship. Involvement was equally related to affiliation and dominance for students.

Refining the measurement of involvement in applications of relational framing theory

ABSTRACT Relational framing theory (RFT) explains how individuals process relational messages during interaction through two content-laden dimensions—dominance-submission and affiliation-disaffiliation—and a content-free intensifier: involvement. RFT research has generally utilized measures of relevance more conducive to the content-laden variables than to the content-free variable. This study advanced a new involvement scale that operates as a measure of degree rather than relevance. Participants (N = 319) provided perceptions of involvement in a hypothetical conversation. Results were consistent with reliable and valid measurement and a unidimensional factor structure. Future research can adopt the degree-based involvement scale to assess the extent to which a communicator is engrossed in interaction.

Parenting as a Communication Process: Integrating Interpersonal Communication Theory and Parenting Styles Conceptualization

AbstractThe goal of this article is to theoretically extend the perspective on the conceptualization of parenting styles (Baumrind, 1971; Maccoby & Martin, 1983) to, first, employ a reciprocal perspective on parent–child relationship dynamics and, second, explore potential antecedents of parenting styles. After presenting the parenting styles typology and the associations between parenting styles and child outcomes, I use constructivism and relational framing theory to illustrate how interpersonal communication theoretical perspectives can contribute to the parenting styles literature. Finally, I call for further integration of interpersonal communication theories and parenting styles.

Control and liking: Examining features of interactions as relational framing cues

Courses Interpersonal Communication, Communication Theory. Objectives Students improve their understanding of relational framing theory, consider features of interactions that influence message interpretation, and reflect on ways framing impacts their interactions.

Biased political reasoning and relational inferences in a small-group deliberative context

Theorists of deliberative democracy envision a citizenry engaged in collective reasoning about public issues on the merits of rival arguments. Partisanship undermines this ideal when it causes people to discount counter-attitudinal arguments, independent of their quality. Empirical deliberative theory lacks an account for what mechanism mitigates this bias in small-group settings. To close that theoretical gap, this study draws on Relational Framing Theory and identifies a relational component of the reasoning process. Participants rated the relevance of dominance/submission and affiliation/disaffiliation relational frames after a small-group deliberation. This perception influenced participants’ decisions to endorse arguments as legitimate public reasons. Implications for deliberative theory, research, and practice are discussed.

Message Design and Audience Engagement with Tobacco Prevention Posts on Social Media.

Understanding the appropriate medium to communicate health promotion messages is vital for improving personal and societal health. As increasingly more people utilize social media for health information, public health practitioners use these platforms to engage an existing audience in health promotion messages. In this study, the relational framing theory was used as a lens for studying how message framing may influence social media audience engagement. Specifically, we assessed how posts from Tobacco Free Florida's Facebook page were framed as either dominant-submissive or affiliate-disaffiliate to an implied audience of either smokers, nonsmokers, active quitters, or a mixed audience, and the extent to which a direct call for engagement, in terms of a request to comment, like, or share the post, was used for audience engagement. A three-way interaction for the level of engagement through comments was significant, F(3217)=7.11, p<.001, ηp2=.09, and showed that framing, a call for engagement, and varying implied audience choice played a role in audience engagement with smoking cessation posts on social media. Implied audiences of Tobacco Free Florida's posts included smokers, those who are trying to quit, and nonsmokers as health promotion can be targeted at the individual's health, social support infrastructure, or the well-being of the society, and implications for strategic message design and audience targeting are discussed.

Interpreting Social-Sexual Communication: Relational Framing Theory and Social-Sexual Communication, Attraction, and Intent

Drawing from relational framing theory (RFT), this manuscript proposes that during social–sexual communication, 3 primary social–sexual frames guide the interpretation of communication and 4 primary relational outcomes are drawn from that interpretation. The factor structure of this model was explored in an undergraduate sample (Study 1, N = 219) and confirmed in an online adult sample (Study 2, N = 344) using written, photographic, and video stimuli. Hypotheses drawn from RFT were tested using the combined sample. The relevance of social–sexual frames when interpreting text messages exchanged with potential partners was explored in Study 3 (N = 107). Results suggest that 3 distinct frames (i.e., seductiveness, flirtatiousness, and friendliness) inform attraction (i.e., physical and social) and relationship (i.e., sexual and romantic) outcomes in courtship.

Relational Framing Theory: Utterance Form and Relational Context as Antecedents of Frame Salience

Using relational framing theory, this article examines the influence of utterance type and relational context on the salience of relational frames. The authors report the results of two studies that used scenarios to manipulate utterance form and information about the relationship between interactants. Participants rated the relevance of dominance-submissiveness and affiliation-disaffiliation frames to interpreting the hypothetical interactions. Results showed that judgments of dominance-submissiveness frame salience were sensitive to variations in utterance type and relational context, but the results were mixed for the affiliation-disaffiliation frame. The authors discuss the implications for relational framing theory and the possibility of an affiliation bias.

Looking at Favorable and Unfavorable Superior-Subordinate Relationships Through Dominance and Affiliation Lenses

Subordinates’ perceptions of the quality of their superiors are considered. Relational framing theory and leader-member exchange theory are utilized to understand forces that influence subordinates’ impressions of their superiors. As hypothesized, results revealed that perceptions of superiors’ quality are influenced by judgments about the activation of the affiliation-disaffiliation frame in the relationship. Contrary to expectations, dominance-submission relevance judgments were unrelated to perceptions of superiors’ quality. The sex of the superior, the sex of the subordinate and Feidler’s Least Preferred Co-worker scale were each found to be unrelated to relational framing. It is concluded that the application of relational framing theory to superior-subordinate relationships can advance our understanding of the superior-subordinate relationship.

Relational Communication and Understanding in Conversations About Hurtful Events Between Parents and Adolescents

This article examines how the severity of a hurtful event and discrepancies in perceptions of relational communication affect perceived understanding and empathic accuracy (EA) in parent–adolescent discussions about a hurtful event in their relationship. Results from a dyadic interaction study showed that the severity of the hurtful event was negatively associated with perceived understanding. Furthermore, discrepancies in perceptions of disaffiliation behaviors during a conversation about a child's hurtful event were also negatively associated with perceived understanding. Discrepancy in perceptions of adolescent's dominance corresponded negatively with parents' perceived understanding when discussing the child's hurtful event. There were no significant associations with EA. The implications for work on hurtful events, understanding, and relational framing theory are discussed.

Predicting social and personal attraction in task groups

Equity and market forces are examined for their influence on the formation of social and personal attraction in groups. It is hypothesized that perceptions of task and maintenance behaviors during group interactions influence individuals’ perceptions of costs and rewards in groups which, in turn, drive assessments of social and personal attraction via either equity or market forces. Results indicate that equity forces are significantly linked with perceptions of social attraction and market forces significantly predict personal attraction. Theoretical implications are discussed regarding equity theory, social exchange theory, and relational framing theory.

The Role of Formal and Informal Control Mechanisms for Supplier Selection: Experimental Evidence

Previous research in operations has emphasized the importance of internal integration for firm performance. This study shifts the focus to determinants of internal integration and experimentally investigates the role of management control mechanisms for the integration of marketing information about customer preferences in supplier selection decisions. To derive our hypotheses, we draw upon relational framing theory and the distinction between formal and informal control mechanisms. Our experiment manipulates two types of formal control mechanisms and the informal control mechanism so that each control mechanism either evokes a group or an individual frame. With respect to the different combinations of formal control mechanisms, we show that only the combination in which both formal control mechanisms evoke a group frame lead to a high degree of customer-oriented supplier selections. More importantly, we show that the informal control mechanism is driving the degree of customeroriented supplier selections when formal control mechanisms evoke conflicting frames, while the informal control mechanism does not lead to any difference when both formal control mechanisms evoke a group frame. Our results contribute to the literature about internal integration and the management control literature.

Social influence in groups: A comparative application of relational framing theory and the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion

Normative influence, as opposed to informational influence, in groups often diminishes decision-making outcomes. Despite the important effect of social influence on group performance, prior research on social influence in groups has largely focused on variable analytic conditions that affect influence, instead of on theoretical explanations of the use of social influence. This paper addressed that limitation by applying Relational Framing Theory (Dillard, Solomon, & Samp, 1996) and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) to social influence in groups. A 3 (group interaction goal: task, group, control)×2 (involvement: high or control) factorial design experiment was conducted to test the applicability of these two theories. Results demonstrated that neither theory predicted the occurrence of normative and informational statements in discussion. Additional tests, however, showed greater general support for Relational Framing Theory.

When the Frame Paints the Picture

Alcohol myopia theory and relational framing theory were used to explain how alcohol consumption affects perceptions of sexual scenarios. In a within-subjects design, participants (N = 51) evaluated scenarios that emphasized consensual cues only and scenarios with consensual and nonconsensual sexual behaviors (mixed cues). Participants read both scenario types at three blood alcohol levels (.00, .04, and .08 g/dl). Participants viewed affiliation judgments as significantly more relevant than dominance judgements when evaluating the consensual scenarios, regardless of their level of alcohol consumption. For the mixed cues scenarios, participants did not view either dimension as more relevant when sober; when drinking, they viewed dominance judgments as more relevant. As alcohol consumption increased, women were more likely to report that they would act like the female in both scenario types, whereas men were more likely to act like the male in the consensual scenario only.

Episode Type, Attachment Orientation, and Frame Salience: Evidence for a Theory of Relational Framing

Relational framing theory asserts that dominance-submission and affiliation-disaffiliation tend to displace each other as frames for processing social interaction; involvement is argued to be a content-free intensifier variable that contributes to judgments of dominance or affiliation as a function of the salient relational frame. The present study seeks to replicate and extend previous tests of these claims by evaluating three hypotheses: (a) The differential salience of dominance-submission and affiliation-disaffiliation frames as a function of the type of social episode is robust across same-sex and cross-sex friendship dyads; (b) the magnitude of the association between involvement and dominance and affiliation varies as a function of frame salience instantiated by the type of episode; and (c) attachment anxiety is positively correlated with the perceived relevance of both dominance-submission and affiliation-disaffiliation to social episodes. Results are consistent with all three of the hypotheses, but relational framing is unrelated to subscales operationalizing the comfort with closeness dimension of attachment orientation.