Language Strategies
- Framing and Shorthands
Framing
- What
is a frame?
- The
nine dot problem is an example
- The
frame dictates which window you look out of, which perspective you take.
- Frames
are conceptual “boundaries” within which we form understandings. Concepts “outside” the frame are not
considered, usually not even recognized as possible or relevant.
- Metaphors
are frames (e.g. “ the war
on ….”
- Reframing
is persuasion
- A
new frame (or metaphor) changes perceptions and, thus, how people
understand and behave
- Frames
can be found in
i.
Communicators
ii.
“Texts”
iii.
Receivers
iv.
“Culture”
- Is
there a difference between an 80% chance of success and a 20% chance of
failure? Between “welfare
mothers” and “Recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent
Children?” Between “private
sexual matters” and “perjury before the grand jury?”
Cognitive Shorthands - “rules of thumb people use to get on with
their lives without protracted deliberation (e.g. “Everybody lies about
sex. It’s no big deal.”)
- Cialdini’s
Seven Principles
- Contrast
– “ask for a mile”
- Reciprocity
– “one flower given” “door in the
face”
- Consistency
– justifying actions as consistent with B+V/M, response set bias
- Social
proof – “heuristics,” “bandwagon
effect,” “behavioral modeling”
(Bandura)
- Authority
– “credibility is in the eye of the beholder,” credibility is a social construction/concept
- Liking - balance theory, credibility
research, reciprocity
- Scarcity
– scarce is valuable (often), “expensive is better”
- Mother
Turkey hypothesis – social triggers, automatic releaser mechanisms.
("It's for the children.")
- The
Faulty Autopilot - Mental shortcuts - that usually work without
much thought - can sometimes guide us very wrongly .
Material on this page
adapted from H.W. Simons. (2001) Persuasion in Society. Sage.
115-150. [Note the “Get-Rich Scheme description on page 150 of Persuasion
in Society.]
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