The Effects of Framing and Advocacy Expectancy on Belief Importance and Issue Attitude

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

“…For example, given the source's orientation, when a source employs an unexpected frame that runs counter to the source's interests, readers are found to experience stronger framing effects. Across two public issues (animal testing and offshore oil drilling), a recent study demonstrated that unexpected frames were more effective in moving readers' opinions, and the stronger framing effects were mediated by greater change in the importance attributed to the frame featured in the message (Liu et al, 2020). Along similar lines, Haynes et al (2016) found stronger framing effects when a Republican source used a welcoming rather than restrictive frame in support of loosened immigration policies.…”

“…Another fruitful area of inquiry is to explore specific message elements that make an argument stronger, especially when in combination with other frames in a single message. For instance, one study found that an expected advocacy argument is actually weaker in moving readers' attitudes, compared to an advocacy frame that argues for a position against the source's expected stance (Liu et al, 2020).…”

“…The other approach is to compare the effect of a framed message to a control group that reads a message irrelevant to the topic at hand or no message at all. For example, in the context of the debate over animal testing, Liu et al (2020) compared an advocacy frame that emphasized animals' rights and welfare to a control group. Their study found that attitudes exposed to an expected advocacy frame were not significantly different from the baseline attitude measured in the control group, whereas an unexpected advocacy frame was more effective in changing attitudes.…”