Week 1 & 2 Readings – Introduction to Media Effects
Research: The Power of Feelings?
1. Schuck and Feinholdt – News Framing Effects and Emotions
1. News Framing: Key Terms and Definitions
a. A frame is central organizing idea that suggests to a reader what the issue is and
how one should come to understanding it
b. Framing can be seen as the selection, salience distribution, and the specific
exclusion or elaboration of certain issues
c. News framing – how media can portray one and the same topic in varying ways
i. Conflict
ii. Attribution of Responsibility
iii. Morality
iv. Human Interest
v. Economic Consequences
d. Internal and external factors can affect the building of frames
i. Internal factors – editorial policies, news values
ii. External factors – public opinion climate, events, and political agendas
e. 2 trends for analyzing framing in nonstandard news formats
i. Focus on Visual Framing
ii. Computer Assisted, Text-based Analysis
f. Focus not so much on the effects of frames but specifics such as who is the (1)
holder of the frame and in what conditions can it appear, the underlying processes
and mechanisms (2) causing such an effect, as well as testing frames in realistic
settings (3)
g. Contextual and county-specific moderators are prevalent in news framing
h. Mediators that affect how framing operates:
i. Cognitive processes
1. Accessibility paradox
2. Belief Importance Change
3. Belief Content Change (adding new beliefs)
ii. Affective mediators.
iii. What kinds of emotions are triggered by political news frames, to what
extent, under what conditions, and what is their impact on what kind of
relevant outcomes?
, 2. The Driving, Channeling, and Simply Central Role of Emotions in Framing
a. Affect – the evaluation of whether a mood is either positive or negative
b. Moods extend over time and context where emotions are specific and contextual
c. Feeling – the awareness that one is entering a specific emotional experience
i. Emotions AND sensation focused
d. Dimensional Theories
i. Emotions can be defined by valence and arousal
1. Valence – the subjective state of feeling pleasure of displeasure in
response to a certain stimulus and can vary in intensity
2. Arousal – the physiological changes ranging from excitement to
calmness
ii. Limitations of dimensional theories
1. Not all emotional features or characteristic can be defined to 2 or 3
dimensions
2. Dimensional theories are descriptive and not explanatory
iii. The Cognitive Appraisal Theories (CAT)
1. Emotions and emotional episodes come from a specific,
invariant pattern and sequence of appraisals
2. Emotional episodes consist of several features:
a. Cognitive appraisals
i. Mechanisms that monitor and scrutinize external
and internal events connected to the individual’s
well-being
ii. Appraisal dimensions: novelty (familiarity),
certainty, agency (responsibility), coping potential
iii. The appraisal sequence is argued about
b. Psychophysiology
c. Subjective Feelings
d. Motivational and behavioral tendencies (facial expressions)
3. Emotions are channels or the processes of news framing effects
2
Research: The Power of Feelings?
1. Schuck and Feinholdt – News Framing Effects and Emotions
1. News Framing: Key Terms and Definitions
a. A frame is central organizing idea that suggests to a reader what the issue is and
how one should come to understanding it
b. Framing can be seen as the selection, salience distribution, and the specific
exclusion or elaboration of certain issues
c. News framing – how media can portray one and the same topic in varying ways
i. Conflict
ii. Attribution of Responsibility
iii. Morality
iv. Human Interest
v. Economic Consequences
d. Internal and external factors can affect the building of frames
i. Internal factors – editorial policies, news values
ii. External factors – public opinion climate, events, and political agendas
e. 2 trends for analyzing framing in nonstandard news formats
i. Focus on Visual Framing
ii. Computer Assisted, Text-based Analysis
f. Focus not so much on the effects of frames but specifics such as who is the (1)
holder of the frame and in what conditions can it appear, the underlying processes
and mechanisms (2) causing such an effect, as well as testing frames in realistic
settings (3)
g. Contextual and county-specific moderators are prevalent in news framing
h. Mediators that affect how framing operates:
i. Cognitive processes
1. Accessibility paradox
2. Belief Importance Change
3. Belief Content Change (adding new beliefs)
ii. Affective mediators.
iii. What kinds of emotions are triggered by political news frames, to what
extent, under what conditions, and what is their impact on what kind of
relevant outcomes?
, 2. The Driving, Channeling, and Simply Central Role of Emotions in Framing
a. Affect – the evaluation of whether a mood is either positive or negative
b. Moods extend over time and context where emotions are specific and contextual
c. Feeling – the awareness that one is entering a specific emotional experience
i. Emotions AND sensation focused
d. Dimensional Theories
i. Emotions can be defined by valence and arousal
1. Valence – the subjective state of feeling pleasure of displeasure in
response to a certain stimulus and can vary in intensity
2. Arousal – the physiological changes ranging from excitement to
calmness
ii. Limitations of dimensional theories
1. Not all emotional features or characteristic can be defined to 2 or 3
dimensions
2. Dimensional theories are descriptive and not explanatory
iii. The Cognitive Appraisal Theories (CAT)
1. Emotions and emotional episodes come from a specific,
invariant pattern and sequence of appraisals
2. Emotional episodes consist of several features:
a. Cognitive appraisals
i. Mechanisms that monitor and scrutinize external
and internal events connected to the individual’s
well-being
ii. Appraisal dimensions: novelty (familiarity),
certainty, agency (responsibility), coping potential
iii. The appraisal sequence is argued about
b. Psychophysiology
c. Subjective Feelings
d. Motivational and behavioral tendencies (facial expressions)
3. Emotions are channels or the processes of news framing effects
2
