To Protest or Not To Protest – Assessing the Effects of Framing on People’s Attitudes Towards Protesting
Poster Number
41
Format
Poster Presentation
Faculty Mentor Name
Gary Howells
Faculty Mentor Department
Psychology
Abstract/Artist Statement
The purpose of the study is to assess the impact of framing effects on people’s attitudes towards protesting behaviors. Research that has assessed people reactions when being shown images of situations they disagreed with, has found a positive relationship between how disturbing the image was and the likelihood people would join a protest (Jasper and Poulsen, 1995). Moreover, when show protests images of protests depicting high levels of conflict, the evaluations of the protest and protestors were more negative (Arpan et. al., 2006). Participants in the current study were undergraduate students at a small liberal arts university in Northern California who were randomly assigned one of two conditions. They were asked to complete a survey assessing demographic information as well as their attitudes towards war. Participants in condition one were shown a video of individuals engaging in peaceful protest where as participants in condition two watched a video of a protest with high levels of hostility. Subjects then completed a survey assessing their attitudes towards the protests and protesters. Preliminary results on a subset of 4 individuals (mean age = 20, SD = 2.06) indicated significances between the groups. Findings will be discussed in the context of understanding the effects of framing on protest behavior.
Location
DeRosa University Center, Ballroom
Start Date
21-4-2011 6:00 PM
End Date
21-4-2011 8:00 PM
To Protest or Not To Protest – Assessing the Effects of Framing on People’s Attitudes Towards Protesting
DeRosa University Center, Ballroom
The purpose of the study is to assess the impact of framing effects on people’s attitudes towards protesting behaviors. Research that has assessed people reactions when being shown images of situations they disagreed with, has found a positive relationship between how disturbing the image was and the likelihood people would join a protest (Jasper and Poulsen, 1995). Moreover, when show protests images of protests depicting high levels of conflict, the evaluations of the protest and protestors were more negative (Arpan et. al., 2006). Participants in the current study were undergraduate students at a small liberal arts university in Northern California who were randomly assigned one of two conditions. They were asked to complete a survey assessing demographic information as well as their attitudes towards war. Participants in condition one were shown a video of individuals engaging in peaceful protest where as participants in condition two watched a video of a protest with high levels of hostility. Subjects then completed a survey assessing their attitudes towards the protests and protesters. Preliminary results on a subset of 4 individuals (mean age = 20, SD = 2.06) indicated significances between the groups. Findings will be discussed in the context of understanding the effects of framing on protest behavior.