Framing Theory

How Framing Works

Framing is central to the establishment and maintenance of mutually beneficial relationships because it helps organizations and key publics to develop common frames of reference. A frame essentially limits or defines a message's meaning. Both message creators and receivers are involved in the process. Frames reflect judgments made by message creators, who put information in either positive or negative frames, use particular semantic phrases, and tell stories using particular syntactical, thematic, or rhetorical devices.

Framing biases the audience's cognitive processing of a message. Framed messages inevitably contain contextual cues that are intended to trigger associations with ideas stored in audience members' memory. These memory traces can be either positive or negative or can conjure up particular recalled images that facilitate processing.

Framing also primes audiences to think about a topic in a particular way. For example, the abortion controversy might be framed as an issue involving (a) a medical procedure, (b) a religious or moral act, [Page 341]or (c) the freedom to make choices. In fact, all three are involved, but, depending on which frame is used, audiences are prompted to interpret a message using different sets of memory traces or cognitive schemas. Framing affects cognitive processing by selectively influencing which sets of experiences the message draws upon and how audiences think about or define a particular topic.

Psychologists differ about the exact structure and operation of human memory, but most psychologists agree that people use processes of association and expectation to schematically make inferences and impute meaning that might not be manifested in the message itself. Importantly, audiences might or might not be conscious of these message-framing effects.

Types of Framing

The robustness of framing theory is evident in the many different ways in which the framing concept is used. At least seven different models of framing have been identified that have potential applications to public relations.