Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Human Interest Frames and Political Policy Attitudes

媒体经常以一种戏剧性的方式来报道公共政策。一种流行的形式是“人情味框架”——讲述一个情境演员的故事。这些框架如何影响一个人对公共政策的理解是通过一系列的实验设计来探索的。使用从州投票倡议中选择的一套新政策，可以在实验室中隔离影响，同时保持有效性。内容分析衡量了平面媒体中人文兴趣框架的重要性，记者采访探索了其使用背后的逻辑。一般的假设是，当我们关注故事中的人物时——一个没有政治暗示的人，对政策的最终理解可能会受到损害。首先，这个人可能会分散我们的注意力，从而导致理解能力差。其次，一个人对这个人的感觉可能会影响对政策的看法，从而导致偏见。这些期望的基础是认知心理学和进化理论。这些发现是根据民主理论来考虑的，特别是自由主义的代表制理论。该项目对媒体在美国政治中的当前角色以及使用人情味戏剧来构建公共政策的可行性提供了批判性的评论。

Media often frame stories about public policies in a dramatic fashion. One popular form is the human-interest frame--a narrative of a situated actor. How these frames influence one's comprehension of public policies is explored through a series of experimental designs. The use of a set of novel cpolicies chosen from state ballot initiatives allows influences to be isolated in the laboratory while preserving validity. Content analysis gauges the prominence of human-interest frames in print media and interviews with journalists explore the logic behind their use. The general hypotheses are that, as we focus on the person in the story -- a person who carries no political cue, ultimate understanding of the policy may be compromised. First, the person may distract our attention and, thus, lead to poor comprehension. Second, one's feelings about the person may shape opinon about the policy and, thus, lead to bias. The bases for these expectations lie in cognitive psychology and evolutionary theory. The findings are considered in terms of democratic theory -- specifically, liberal theories of representation. The project provides a critical comment on the current role of media in American politics and the advisability of using human-interest dramas to frame public policies.