Persuasive Communication - How Audiences Decide. 2nd Edition

Heuristics and Biases in Audience Decision Making 227

level of readership for specifi c news stories.^212 Elements of news stories that newspapers manipulate

in order to frame them include news story headlines, subheads, photos, photo captions, sources

and quotes, and concluding paragraphs.^213 Misleading newspaper headlines that emphasize minor

details rather than the article’s main point routinely bias readers’ comprehension in ways that make

it diffi cult for them to correct their initial misconceptions.^214

The formats of different graphs can also affect how audiences interpret and use the same infor-

mation.^215 For example, audiences interpret the same data differently depending on whether it is

presented in pie charts, bar graphs, or line graphs.^216 They also interpret the same information dif-

ferently depending on which variables are assigned to the x- and y -axes.^217

In addition, excluding information from a message frame affects how people interpret the

message.^218 A study of the effects of message framing on newspaper readers compared the

selective publication of UPI photos of an antiwar protest by The New York Times with the more

extensive publication of UPI photos by The National Guardian. The photos The Times editors

chose to omit, or to leave outside the frame, made a signifi cant difference in how readers inter-

preted the protest.^219

Despite the dramatic effects of frames on decision making, audiences “are normally unaware

of alternative frames and of their potential effects on the relative attractiveness of options.”^220 One

reason audiences usually fail to recognize that differently framed decision problems are similar to

each other is that the surface characteristics of the frames distract them.^221 Even when two compet-

ing frames are presented one after the other, as they are in debates, audience members rarely choose

between them. Instead, they simply adopt the position most consistent with their preexisting val-

ues.^222 Audiences with high levels of statistical sophistication also fail to recognize the impact of

frames on their decisions.^223 For example, experienced physicians are just as likely as their patients

to fail to recognize how framing a treatment either in terms of mortality rates or survival rates

affects their decision about it.^224

Nonetheless, it is sometimes possible for the audience to recognize and reject message frames.

For example, TV audiences will sometimes reject the media’s frames and access frames from other

sources to make sense of the news.^225 A study of older adults (aged 65 to 89) asked to choose a

treatment for lung cancer described either in terms of mortality rates or survival rates fi nds they

are less susceptible to framing effects than younger adults (aged 18 to 24). The reason? Older

adults rely more on their own experience as opposed to the data presented to them to make their

decisions.^226

Framing is most effective when the framed message recommends behaviors that are congruent

with the frame. Thus, consumers are more likely to take action and make purchases when prod-

uct ads are positively framed (e.g., “Save money!”) versus negatively framed (e.g., “Stop wasting

money!”). One study asked 390 women who either owned or were thinking about buying a video

camera to read positively and negatively framed ads and to make purchase decisions. Women who

read the positively framed advertising were much more likely to decide to purchase the advertised

camera than those who read the negatively framed ads.^227

Depending on the behavior recommended, either a positively or negatively framed message

might be more congruent with it. In the health care fi eld, for example, messages that are positively

framed and stress benefi ts, also called gain-framed messages (e.g., “Enjoy a healthy life style”), are

most effective when they encourage preventative behaviors such as regular physical exercise,^228

smoking cessation,^229 and using sunscreen to prevent skin cancer.^230 Negatively framed messages

that emphasize potential problems, also called loss-framed messages (e.g., “Stay out of the hospi-

tal”), are most effective when they encourage detection behaviors such as HIV screening,^231 breast

self-examination,^232 and mammography use.^233