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Cognitive Biases and Communication Strength in Social Networks: The Case of Episodic Frames

Mon, May 29, 14:00 to 15:15, Hilton San Diego Bayfront, Floor: 2, Indigo Ballroom H

Abstract

Surprisingly little systematic research has investigated the factors that make particular political frames strong – i.e., influence why some frames are strongly transmitted and influence opinions in public debate while others perish? Integrating research on the two-step flow of political communication and psychological theories from the cognitive sciences, we outline a model for understanding frame strength in the two-step flow: We argue that frames that resonate with psychological biases will be transmitted to a larger extent and have stronger influence on opinion when citizens transmit elite frames in their social networks. Focusing on the case of episodic and thematic frames we test this model. We introduce a new research design for studying frame strength in the two-step communication flow, i.e. the children's' game ‘Telephone’ implemented in consecutive experimental online surveys fielded to nationally representative samples. This design allow us to observe encoding, transmission and persuasiveness in actual chains of transmission.

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