Frame Theory

Frame theory is an accepted principle used to describe how the brain organizes experiences and new information. Frame theory presents a frame as the basic element used to organize experiences; it is a skeletal structure designed to give shape or support. A frame allows its user to locate, perceive, identify, and label a seemingly infinite number of concrete occurrences defined in its terms. The user is most likely to be unaware of the frame as an organizational tool used by the brain to organize information.

Erving Goffman has written extensively about the use of frame analysis to understand and communicate how the brain decides what is real and what is not, based on everyday events. Gregory Bateson introduced the term frame in 1955 as a word to represent the bracketing of information stored by the brain for retrieval in the future—a special set of boundary markers or brackets, like the wooden frame of a picture or windowpane.

The essence of frame theory occurs when one encounters a new experience one selects from a memory structure called a frame. This is a remembered framework to be adapted to fit reality by changing details as necessary. The frame provides the rules and principles that govern events, especially social ones, and guide a person to understand the meaning of the events. Attached to each frame are several kinds of information. Some of this information is about how to use the frame; some information is about what one can expect to happen next; and some information is about what to do if these expectations are not confirmed. A frame might be thought of as a kind of skeleton on which to hang things.

When a frame is applied to a new concept, it enables us to come to terms with all events associated with the new concept. The frame helps the brain identify what would other wise be meaningless knowledge into something meaningful for use in the future. The use of frames to organize information is not so much to introduce restrictions on what can be meaningful but to open up the possibility for variations on the experience to be added later. Frames are subject to reworking as we move from one frame to another and as new events are experienced.

Thus, a frame does not define the answer in advance; it is up to the thinker to fill in the content of a frame through assimilation of experiences.

Frames are not formulas; they are catalysts that stimulate the thinker to invent answers. The expert thinker has an internalized frame repertoire that functions spontaneously, without much deliberate attention. No one strategy, technique, or method will always work to support the thinking process. People need a “bag of tricks”: a variety of thinking frames to draw from in order to apply higher-order thinking skills.

The use of frame theory has been most prevalent in sociology, political science, language acquisition, artificial intelligence, and communication/media theory. Howard Gardner reported in 1994 that when a framework is used to present new concepts, it helps people organize and direct the new information for a better understanding of the new concept.

...