The effect of framing and emotions on political decisions

Framing effect refers to the semantic presentation of logically equivalent statements in different ways (Krishnamurthy, 2001). In studies examining the framing effect within political contexts, equivalent statements have been presented through loss and gain framing. The importance of the concepts of loss and gain varies depending on individuals' motivational orientations. According to Regulatory Focus Theory, losses are more salient for individuals with a prevention focus, whereas gains are more salient for those with a promotion focus. Individuals with a prevention focus tend to experience fear in the presence of negative outcomes, while individuals with a promotion focus are more likely to experience anger when positive outcomes are absent (Shah ve Higgins, 2001).In this thesis, the effects of framing, regulatory focus, and emotion (anger and fear) on political decision-making were examined. In both studies, a 2 (Framing: Loss vs. Gain) × 2 (Emotion: Anger vs. Fear) between-subjects design was employed. Participants' chronic regulatory focus was also measured and included in the analyses. The dependent variables of the study were political leader evaluation, perceived persuasiveness of the messages, and attitudes toward the messages. In the first study, the messages were about economic policy, while in the second study, they were about immigration policy. No significant interactions between framing, emotion, and regulatory focus were found in either study. However, in the first study where the messages concerned economic policy gain-framed messages were evaluated more positively than loss-framed messages. In contrast, in the second study where the messages concerned immigration policy loss-framed messages were evaluated more positively than gain-framed messages. The findings suggest that in individuals' political decision-making processes, it is the framing and context in which messages are presented rather than personal tendencies or directly experienced emotions such as anger and fear that play a decisive role. Future research may focus on the contextual framing of messages, the situational induction of regulatory focus, the use of different emotions, and the induction of these emotions at a political rather than a personal level. Keywords: framing, regulatory focus, anger, fear. economy, immigrant