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The World is Your Frame
Topic: Framing
by Maddy, 2019 Cohort
How do our brains evaluate all the information they receive every second? They use mechanisms called heuristics, “mental shortcuts”, which ease the cognitive load when making decisions. The sum of all our mental shortcuts creates a mental model that represents the real world. One of the heuristics our brains use is Framing. Framing is a term used to determine how a person communicates or perceives reality. If a fact doesn’t fit our mental model, then the facts go in and they go straight back out. So it isn’t about the facts, it is about the context in which the facts are delivered. Framing is a useful tool when investigating, understanding and communicating something that is complicated and intricate.
Facts are framed, told in a way that makes information more digestible. Our mental models may or may not allow the perception of the information in the way it is intended. For example: one eye closes quickly, it could be a blink (something in someone’s eye) or a wink (communicating humour). An insight is that if you negate a frame, you strengthen a frame. If “don’t think of an elephant” is said, you can’t help but think of an elephant. It’s how the “fact” is framed that determines how it is perceived.
A study was conducted by Kahneman and Tversky comparing the interpretation of statistical data when framed or not framed with character descriptions. Three groups were asked to evaluate which profession Richard was more likely to have, each group were given statistical data, the test groups were given additional uninformative character data: “aged 30, married with no children, high ability and well liked”. This additional irrelevant material highly influenced the assessment of the test groups, showing that people rely on biases and pre-conceived ideas over hard statistics when evaluating facts.
Investigating#
Framing is relevant when doing an assessment of a complex problem. How facts are presented can influence the interpretation of the nature of the problem; for example, environmental, sociological, design or political. The starting frame can lead to very different solutions. It is beneficial to have a group of people initially evaluating the same set of facts, as this leads to a holistic approach when engaging with and evaluating intricate problems.
Understanding and Communicating#
The frames of stakeholders are often generated by their values and needs, which in turn motivates their behaviour. Good communication to your audience requires an understanding of their frame; how they are likely to perceive the presented facts. For example, the Republicans (Conservative thinkers) in America do this effectively, they have had the Democrats (Progressives thinkers) on the defence for the past decade. They learnt their opposition’s values and language and started to frame their own policies in typically Progressive language enabling their arguments to resonate with and so score votes from the other side.
Framing can be a powerful tool when communicating a message. This is particularly so when used in conjunction with investigating and understanding other’s frames.
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Disclaimer#
This content has been contributed by a student as part of a learning activity.
If there are inaccuracies, or opportunities for significant improvement on this topic, feedback is welcome on how to improve the resource.
You can improve articles on this topic as a student in "Unravelling Complexity", or by including the amendments in an email to: Chris.Browne@anu.edu.au
How do our brains evaluate all the information they receive every second? They use mechanisms called heuristics, “mental shortcuts”, which ease the cognitive load when making decisions. The sum of all our mental shortcuts creates a mental model that represents the real world. One of the heuristics our brains use is Framing. Framing is a term used to determine how a person communicates or perceives reality. If a fact doesn’t fit our mental model, then the facts go in and they go straight back out. So it isn’t about the facts, it is about the context in which the facts are delivered. Framing is a useful tool when investigating, understanding and communicating something that is complicated and intricate.
Facts are framed, told in a way that makes information more digestible. Our mental models may or may not allow the perception of the information in the way it is intended. For example: one eye closes quickly, it could be a blink (something in someone’s eye) or a wink (communicating humour). An insight is that if you negate a frame, you strengthen a frame. If “don’t think of an elephant” is said, you can’t help but think of an elephant. It’s how the “fact” is framed that determines how it is perceived.
A study was conducted by Kahneman and Tversky comparing the interpretation of statistical data when framed or not framed with character descriptions. Three groups were asked to evaluate which profession Richard was more likely to have, each group were given statistical data, the test groups were given additional uninformative character data: “aged 30, married with no children, high ability and well liked”. This additional irrelevant material highly influenced the assessment of the test groups, showing that people rely on biases and pre-conceived ideas over hard statistics when evaluating facts.
Investigating#
Framing is relevant when doing an assessment of a complex problem. How facts are presented can influence the interpretation of the nature of the problem; for example, environmental, sociological, design or political. The starting frame can lead to very different solutions. It is beneficial to have a group of people initially evaluating the same set of facts, as this leads to a holistic approach when engaging with and evaluating intricate problems.
Understanding and Communicating#
The frames of stakeholders are often generated by their values and needs, which in turn motivates their behaviour. Good communication to your audience requires an understanding of their frame; how they are likely to perceive the presented facts. For example, the Republicans (Conservative thinkers) in America do this effectively, they have had the Democrats (Progressives thinkers) on the defence for the past decade. They learnt their opposition’s values and language and started to frame their own policies in typically Progressive language enabling their arguments to resonate with and so score votes from the other side.
Framing can be a powerful tool when communicating a message. This is particularly so when used in conjunction with investigating and understanding other’s frames.