The Cognitive Bases For Framing Effects

Abstract How Audiences process news cognitively is central to understanding the effects of news content and news frames. In this chapter we offer an account of the psychology of the audience to set the groundwork for our studies of the effects of news frames on learning, cynicism, and understanding. Our discussion focuses specifically on the strategy frame and how it might interact with the audience’s knowledge and normal cognitive functions. News frames make salient certain features of a news event and depress others. What is salient in a story primes mental associations in the receiver and, through a process of spreading activation in the knowledge system, stimulates other, related concepts as well. Strategic frames invite negative attributions about political actors because the stories suggest that politicians are motivated by self-interest. These attributions may be automatic in the sense of being effortless and, after repeated application, may become the accepted narrative account organizing thinking about a politician or politicians in general.