Framing Effects

Previous studies suggest in line with dual process models that interoceptive skills affect controlled decisions via automatic or implicit processing. The “framing effect” is considered to capture implicit effects of task-irrelevant emotional stimuli on decision-making. We hypothesized that cardiac awareness, as a measure of interoceptive skills, is positively associated with susceptibility to the framing effect. Forty volunteers performed a risky-choice framing task in which the effect of loss versus gain frames on decisions based on identical information was assessed. The results show a positive association between cardiac awareness and the framing effect, accounting for 24% of the variance in the framing effect. These findings demonstrate that good interoceptive skills are linked to poorer performance in risky choices based on ambivalent information when implicit bias is induced by task-irrelevant emotional information. These findings support a dual process perspective on decision-making and suggest that interoceptive skills mediate effects of implicit bias on decisions.

The way choices are framed influences decision-making. These " framing effects " emerge through the integration of emotional responses into decision-making under uncertainty. It was previously reported that susceptibility to the framing effect was reduced in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) due to a reduced tendency to incorporate emotional information into the decision-making process. However, recent research indicates that, where observed, emotional processing impairments in ASD may be due to co-occurring alexithymia. Alexithymia is thought to arise due to impaired interoception (the ability to perceive the internal state of one's body), raising the possibility that emotional signals are not perceived and thus not integrated into decision-making in those with alexithymia and that therefore reduced framing effects in ASD are a product of co-occurring alexithymia rather than ASD per se. Accordingly, the present study compared framing effects in autistic individuals with neurotypical controls matched for alexithymia. Results showed a marked deviation between groups. The framing effect was, in line with previous data, significantly smaller in autistic individuals, and there was no relationship between alexithymia or interoception and decision-making in the ASD group. In the neurotypical group, however, the size of the framing effect was associated with alexithymia and interoception, even after controlling for autistic traits. These results demonstrate that although framing effects are associated with interoception and alexithymia in the neurotypical population, emotional and interoceptive signals have less impact upon the decision-making process in ASD.

This experiment tested whether a communication frame could be developed to improve undergraduates' understanding of contemporary political issues. Specifically, a meta-cognitive equivalency frame (easy vs. difficult) was designed to test whether framing and processing fluency affect constructs important to public opinion research. Consistent with expectations, those in the easy frame condition reported more confidence in their political knowledge, less ambivalent issue positions, and showed evidence of more ideological thinking than those in the difficult frame condition (N = 488). The results of this study imply that communication frames can be designed to improve peo-ple's ability to reason through complex ideas. Theoretical advancements to framing theory and feelings-as-information theory are offered and practical applications for this work are advanced.

La bibliografía internacional ha permitido determinar la influencia de los medios de comunicación en la generación de actitudes y comportamientos políticos de los ciudadanos, a partir de su cobertura de la política y en particular del framing de las noticias durante las campañas, de tipo asunto político y juego estratégico. Aunque habitualmente estos estudios se han elaborado desde diseños experimentales clásicos, recientemente se ha planteado la necesidad de realizar estudios de mayor validez externa y capacidad de generalización, llamados de realismo experimental, que vinculan contenidos mediáticos con mediciones de opinión para generar indicadores de consumo de cierto tipo de encuadres. Tomando este procedimiento como referente, el artículo presenta los resultados sobre el impacto del consumo de contenido informativo, enfocado ya sea desde la estrategia electoral o bien en las propuestas programáticas, en el desarrollo del compromiso político de los ciudadanos durante la campaña presidencial mexicana de 2018. Los resultados muestran un importante efecto del consumo del encuadre de asunto político sobre el compromiso  ciudadano en todos los indicadores medidos.

The aim of the present study was to examine the contributions to decision making (DM) deficits in schizophrenia (SZ) patients, of expected value (EV) estimation and loss aversion. Patients diagnosed with SZ (n=46) and healthy controls (n=34) completed two gambling tasks. In one task, participants chose between two options with the same EV across two conditions: Loss frames and Keep frames. A second task involved accepting or rejecting gambles, in which gain and loss amounts varied, determining the EV of each trial. SZ patients showed a reduced "framing effect" relative to controls, as they did not show an increased tendency to gamble when faced with a certain loss. SZ patients also showed a reduced tendency to modify behavior as a function of EV. The degree to which choices tracked EV correlated significantly with several cognitive measures in both patients and controls. SZ patients show distinct deviations from normal behavior under risk when their decisions are based on ...

This review synthesizes the existing literature on cognitive media effects, including agenda setting, framing, and priming, in order to identify their similarities, differences, and inherent commonalities. Based on this review, we argue that the theory and research on each of these cognitive effects share a common view that media affect audience members by influencing the relative importance of considerations used to make subsequent judgments (including their answers to post-exposure survey questions). In reviewing this literature, we note that one important factor is often ignored, the extent to which a consideration featured in the message is deemed usable for a given subsequent judgment, a factor called judged usability, which may be an important mediator of cognitive media effects like agenda setting, framing, and priming. Emphasizing judged usability leads to the revelation that media coverage may not just elevate a particular consideration, but may also actively suppress a consideration, rendering it less usable for subsequent judgments. Thus, it opens a new avenue for cognitive effects research. In the interest of integrating these strands of cognitive effects research, we propose the Judged Usability Model as a revision of past cognitive models.

This study examines media framing of philanthropy. It presents a new theoretical and methodological framework that combines and integrates theories and models from the fields of communication and philanthropy. The framework includes three communication components (media outlets, functions, and roles) and three philanthropy components (donors, donations, and recipients). The integration of these components yielded six frames: government substitution, individual, high-net-worth, consumer, corporate, and media driven, as well as a new framework for analysis. Content analysis of media coverage of philanthropy during two cases of warfare in Israel demonstrates examples of these frames. The findings and the framework for analysis have significant implications for the study of media-philanthropy relations.