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Brian Lamb
Thinking of Frames
Memory
Your brain automatically reaches for information which is in itself framed for you already You have concepts of things that represent not just facts but perceptions and associations-hence you cannot stop yourself thinking of the Elephant once it is suggested to you
TEST
A bat and ball cost 1.10 in total. The bat costs 1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? It takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make a hundred widgets?
Reflective System
Frames
Deep Frames
Campaigning Paradigm
Focus on developing evidence Present evidence to decision makers If necessary also convince the public to create leverage for changing policy, practice, behaviour Rational decision makers are either convinced or give in to pressure Public decides on evidence and alters views, commits to campaign, or change behaviour Only it does not work like that!
Westen
In politics, as in everyday life, two sets of often competing constraints shape our judgements: cognitive constraints, imposed by the information we have available, and emotional constraints, imposed by the feelings associated with one conclusion or another. when reason and emotion collide, emotion invariably wins. Although the marketplace of ideas is a great place to shop for policies, the marketplace that matters mostis the marketplace of emotions.
Westen
Political Views are related to and constrained by our values and feelings We chose the arguments and positions that align with our underling values and emotions not with the evidence Language (frames) and activates those values Campaigns which ignore the emotional (value) laden context will fail Material interest does not align with voting and views held-values and emotions trump them in most circumstances Need to appeal to underlying emotions and values by reframing the issue but he is more flexible on what values and frames work
THE WAY IN WHICH THE WORLD IS IMAGINED DETERMINES AT ANY PARTICULAR MOMENT WHAT PEOPLE WILL DO.
Frames
Frames are organizing principles that are socially shared and persistent over time that work symbolically to meaningfully structure the world. Every frame defines the issue, explains who is responsible, and suggests potential solutions. All of these are conveyed by images, stereotypes, or anecdotes. Framing Institute Report
Frames
People use mental shortcuts to make sense of the world. Incoming information provides cues about where to file it mentally. Over time, we develop habits of thought and expectation and configure incoming information to conform to the values and frames we use This triggers sets of emotions and values that conform with our world view. An explanation that reduces a complex problem to a simple, concrete analogy or metaphor contributes to understanding by helping people organize information into a clear picture in their heads, including facts and ideas previously learned but not organized in a coherent way,
Lakoff
Political Debates are essentially contests over metaphors which express or depend on underlying values and emotions. The political position we believe in will correspond to an overriding metaphor that explains the world for us. We believe the facts that correspond to the metaphor as we do not have time or consonance to discuss and delineate every fact. Even if we did we are not as rationale as we like to think.
Another trap is the assumption that all you have to do is set the facts straight and people will reason to the right conclusion. Wrong! If the facts don't fit the frames, the frames stay and the facts are ignored. The facts unframed will not set you free. You cannot win just be stating the true facts and showing that they contradict your opponent's claims. Frames trump facts.
Implications
Campaigns which are trying to appeal to the public or change behaviour have to be calibrated towards the values of the public rather than simply presenting arguments around interests or facts This has lead to a great deal of interest in Marketing based analysis-mapping the value sets of the public, where they sit on the spectrum of views and how they could be addressed by reframing issues to sync with those views Segmentation against values becomes the key to successful campaigns aimed at public change Framing of arguments-how you active those thoughts and feelings you want and counter others frames
BEHAVIOUR CHANGE
HOW TO FRAME 1.
Framing
State the Story Explain the Problem Describe how big the issues is Present a Solution Keep it Simple Appeal to Values Establish Responsibility
WRITE A STORY
HOW TO FRAME 2.
Public Campaigning
There is no such thing as a social problem, until enough people, with enough power in the society, agree that there is. Social problems are produced by public opinion, not by particular social conditions, undesirable or otherwise.
Armand Mauss and Julie Wolfe, eds., This Land of Promises: The Rise and Fall of Social Problems.
Effects of Framing
Crime: 58% do not believe that crime is falling, when the Crime Survey for England and Wales shows that incidents of crime were 19% lower in 2012 than in 2006/07 and 53% lower than in 1995. 51% think violent crime is rising, when it has fallen from almost 2.5 million incidents in 2006/07 to under 2 million in 2012 Benefit fraud: people estimate that benefit money is claimed fraudulently 34 times more than official estimates: the public think that 24 out of every 100 spent on benefits is claimed fraudulently, compared with official estimates of 0.70 per 100. Foreign aid: 26% of people think foreign aid is one of the top 2-3 items that government spends the most money on, when it actually made up 1.1% of expenditure (7.9bn) in the 2011/12 financial year. Immigration and ethnicity: the public think that 31% of the population are immigrants, when the official figure is 13%. Benefit bill: people are most likely to think that capping benefits at 26,000 per household will save the most money from a list provided (33% pick this option). This is twice the level of people who selected raising the pension age to 66 for both men and women or stopping child benefits when someone in the household earns 50k+. In fact, capping household benefits is estimated to save 290m, compared with 5bn for raising the pension age and 1.7bn for stopping child benefit for wealthier households.
Frames
Do not use your opponents frame or repeat it even to challenge it-you will only trigger the associations you opponent wants triggered Show respect for the other persons Look for Wedge issues-means of finding common ground on values that allows a bridge to your frame of reference Think and talk at the level of values and use these to frame your facts
OR BEDROOM TAX?
Tobacco
Campaigners had more success when they started to frame tobacco as a defective product rather than a pleasurable but dangerous individual pleasure. As a dangerous product in peoples eyes it became much easier to put the responsibility back onto the manufacturers and then place peoples dependency on the product as the result of addiction not personal vice. This led to campaigners finding it much easier to fix the targets of the campaign as being the manufacturer, tax and sales policy. This was because of the simple device shifting the way (frame) in which people thought about the product.
OTHER EXAMPLES?DISCUSSION
Summary
Communications
What are we asking people to do, think, or feel as a result of this communication? How do we know this message will yield this result? Does our message strategy take into consideration the dominant frames on this issue? Crafting a message is often the first task groups tackle in creating a campaign, when it should be the logical end-product of strategy development. Does our message strategy reflect what we know about public opinion in general and the particular opinions of our target audience? Have we adequately translated the message from the language and complexity of expert understanding to the language and values of our target audience? Who Is Communicating? (Messenger)
Reflections
One key conclusion-its easier to sell positive visions that align with values than negative ones-but need to be careful not to over claim Clear communality with some elements of Nudge approach but more transparent More focus on narrative and story telling, less on facts and figures Look for wedge issues to link to your issues and values But can you really expect to change fundamental underlying values and affiliations if they are as deep rooted as the theories suggest? If so suggests much more cross working to promote values that sustain the kind of concerns and values you are trying to promote
Sources
Bales, S.N. (2005) Framing Public Issues, Frameworks Institute, Washington Crompton, T. Common Cause, (2010) The Case for Working with our Cultural Values, WWF Darnton, A. with Kirk, M. Finding Frames: New ways to engage the UK public in global poverty Bond 2011 Jackson, Prof. T. (August 2004). Motivating Sustainable Consumption, a review of evidence on consumer behaviour and behavioural change. Guildford: University of Surrey. Lakoff, G. (1995) Metaphor, Morality, and Politics, or, Why Conservatives Have Left Liberals In the Dust Lakoff, G (2004) Dont Think of an Elephant! Know your Values and Frame the Debate Lakoff, G. (2009) The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientists Guide to your Brain and its Politics Lamb, B. (2010) The Good Guide to Campaigning and Influencing. Westen, D. (2007) The Political Brain, The role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation
Websites
http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/ http://valuesandframes.org/ http://www.cognitivepolicyworks.com/ http://www.campaignstrategy.org/articles/usingvaluemodes.pdf Recent Articles http://www.huffingtonpost.com/drew-westen/what-created-thepopulist_b_699960.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johannhari/johann-hari-the-plan-to-save-ed-miliband-2258737.html http://www.campaigncentral.org.uk/opinion/dfgdfgdfgdf http://www.campaigncentral.org.uk/opinion/don-t-let-devil-havebest-tunes-how-campaigners-need-mind-their-language
Contact
Email: consultancy@ncvo-vol.org.uk Call 020 7520 2587 Brian.publicaffairs@gmail.com