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The Influence of Visual Frame Combinations in Solutions Journalism Stories
Abstract
This study investigated how visual framing influences discrete emotional responses, empathy, behavioral intentions, and efficacy in reaction to visual solutions journalism. A 2 (story topic: drug addiction, homelessness) × 4 (visual frame condition: no photo, solution-only, problem-only, combination) mixed design experiment revealed that images showing only social problems elicited the lowest levels of compassion in viewers, challenging long-held assumptions about the utility of social problem imagery. Image pairs showing both problems and solutions were revealed to be effective at eliciting moderate levels of emotional response, including hope, compassion, and empathy.
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Research on visual effects constitutes a fertile new and expanding area of scholarship. This entry describes the variety of cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral aspects of study in this area. It seeks to understand the dimension of scholarship in visualization effects and therefore connects visual communication research to the mainstream communication field. It offers insights into functions and effects of visual content and informs about challenges and research trends in visual studies. Although the literature on visual effects has a relatively rich tradition, increasingly contemporary scholars are working to provide striking new insights into how imagery interacts with other modalities of information. Such insights create a new dimension to visual effects research and link this area to newer forms of communication inquiry.
This article answers calls from scholars to attend to a research gap concerning the visual representation of climate change. We present results from three Q-methodology workshops held in Melbourne (Australia), Norwich (UK) and Boulder (USA) investigating engagement with climate change imagery drawn from mass media sources. Participants were provided with a concourse of climate change images drawn from a newspaper content analysis carried out across all three countries, and asked to carry out two Q-sorts: first, for salience (‘this image makes me feel climate change is important’) and second, for efficacy (‘this image makes me feel I can do something about climate change’). We found results remarkably consistent both across and within country cohorts. This may indicate the presence of a dominant, mainstream discourse around climate imagery. We found that imagery of climate impacts promotes feelings of salience, but undermines self-efficacy; that imagery of energy futures imagery promotes self-efficacy; and that images of politicians and celebrities strongly undermine saliency, and undermine self-efficacy for the Australian cohort. These results, if widely replicable, have implications for climate change communication and engagement. Our results suggest that imagery plays a role in either increasing the sense of importance of the issue of climate change (saliency), or in promoting feelings of being able to do something about climate change (efficacy) – but few, if any, images seem to do both. Communications strategies should assess the purpose of their messages, considering these findings regarding salience and efficacy in this study, and choose to employ images accordingly.
Two experiments explored the effects of photographs on ethical decision making in the journalism domain. Both found that photographs improved participants' ethical reasoning and identified mental elaboration as significant in that process: thinking about the people affected by an ethical situation helped improve ethical reasoning. Involvement also was important; when participants were not very involved with the dilemmas, having photographs significantly improved their ethical reasoning. Theoretical explanations for why and how this occurs are offered, building upon moral development theory.
in our discussion of emotion and dysfunction, we have intimated that emotions are instructive about persons because both emotions and the personality are organized around the problem of surviving, getting along, and flourishing over the life course
begin by addressing the question of what an emotion is / describe our own [the authors'] recent work directed at illuminating what we see as one of the important issues in emotion theory—the role of cognitive appraisal
embed this work in a general model of emotion, which identifies the key variables and processes within a systems framework emphasizing person-environment relationships and cognitive mediation
illustrate how emotion theory makes firm contact with a variety of topics currently being pursued across diverse psychological disciplines, especially personality and social psychology
the adaptational problem and the evolution of emotion / appraisal theory / personality, society, and biology in emotion (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Although Mechanical Turk has recently become popular among social scientists as a source of experimental data, doubts may linger about the quality of data provided by subjects recruited from online labor markets. We address these potential concerns by presenting new demographic data about the Mechanical Turk subject population, reviewing the strengths of Mechanical Turk relative to other online and offline methods of recruiting subjects, and comparing the magnitude of effects obtained using Mechanical Turk and traditional subject pools. We further discuss some additional benefits such as the possibility of longitudinal, cross cultural and prescreening designs, and offer some advice on how to best manage a common subject pool.
What is compassion? And how did it evolve? In this review, we integrate 3 evolutionary arguments that converge on the hypothesis that compassion evolved as a distinct affective experience whose primary function is to facilitate cooperation and protection of the weak and those who suffer. Our empirical review reveals compassion to have distinct appraisal processes attuned to undeserved suffering; distinct signaling behavior related to caregiving patterns of touch, posture, and vocalization; and a phenomenological experience and physiological response that orients the individual to social approach. This response profile of compassion differs from those of distress, sadness, and love, suggesting that compassion is indeed a distinct emotion. We conclude by considering how compassion shapes moral judgment and action, how it varies across different cultures, and how it may engage specific patterns of neural activation, as well as emerging directions of research.
Academic activity surrounding constructive and solutions journalism has surged in recent years; thus, it is important to pause and reflect on this growing body of work in order to understand where the field can and should go in the future. We conducted a systematic review of existing literature on solutions and constructive journalism ( N = 94), in an effort to (1) describe the state of this field by identifying the patterns and trends in the methodological and conceptual approaches, topics, institutions, countries and practices involved in this research, and (2) illuminate potentially important gaps in the field and suggest recommendations for future research.
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Interview with Dr. Nora Volkow on stigma against people who use drugs and its effects on care delivery and the burden of substance use disorders. (11:26)Download
Among the challenges in delivering appropriate care to the millions of people in the United States with substance use disorder is the chilling effect of stigma. Stigma impedes access to treatment and care delivery and contributes to the disorder on the individual level.
Solutions journalism, which is defined as rigorous and fact-driven news stories that include responses to social problems, has gained momentum in U.S. newsrooms. To date, research on this journalistic practice is scant, and has primarily focused on text. This study synthesized literature about solutions journalism, visual communication theory, and photojournalism norms and ethics. The result of this analysis is a proposed set of best practices that suggests visual solutions journalism should be comprehensive, humanizing, and precise. Then a content analysis and a social semiotic analysis of visuals from solutions journalism identified newspaper stories were conducted. The content analysis identified visual trends in current solutions journalism reporting. The social semiotic analysis assessed visual work that best exemplifies solutions journalism and photojournalism tenets. This semiotic analysis yielded support for the proposed best practices for visual solutions journalism. The findings advance visual communication theory and offer photojournalists and editors a set of practical guidelines for applying solutions journalism tenets to photography.
An increasing number of news organizations are reporting stories about responses to persistent societal problems, a reporting form known as solutions journalism. While this type of reporting practice is typically text-based, visual reporting can also be solutions journalism. Photojournalism theory and practice pose particular insights for advancing academic understanding of solutions journalism. This study uses an experiment to examine effects of exposure to problem-oriented versus solution-oriented photojournalism for three different story topics. The study examines important variables such as narrative engagement, interest, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions. Study data suggest that narrative engagement can play an important role in involving audiences in visual solutions reporting, with data showing that solutions visual reporting is more engaging on average. Further, when audiences are more engaged in the visual solutions reporting, participants report more positive outcomes for interest, self-efficacy, and behavior intentions. Study findings have implications for both journalism theory and for the practice of visual solutions journalism.
Solutions journalism is rigorous news reporting about how people are responding to social problems – a definition used by scholars but formulated by the Solutions Journalism Network, an independent organization that promotes the practice. The approach has a growing appeal in the professional world, but what little exists in academic research fails to offer thorough theoretical and conceptual definitions or a concrete operationalization of the practice. Through in-depth interviews, journalists familiar with solutions journalism offered insights about how to define and measure the practice. Specifically, journalists said solution-oriented news stories contribute to more accurate and balanced news coverage, they are sophisticated and rigorous, and they intend to motivate readers to contribute to societal change. Further findings help distinguish the Solutions Journalism Network’s conceptualization of the concept from how working journalists practice it, particularly in regard to the extent that solutions journalism overlaps with advocacy journalism. Finally, this study offers guidelines for measuring a solutions news story in an effort to spur consistent future research on the effects of the solutions journalism approach.
The fact that the news has a negativity bias is relatively undisputed. But is this a matter for concern? In this study, two experiments explored the impact of different types of constructive news stories on readers’ affect, motivation, and behavioural intentions. Study 1 examined news stories with either a solution frame or catastrophic frame, and Study 2 examined stories that evoked either positive or negative emotions. Findings revealed that catastrophically-framed stories and news stories that evoked negative emotions reduced intentions to take positive action to address issues, and resulted in negative affect. In contrast, solution-framed stories and news stories that evoked positive emotions resulted in more positive affect and higher intentions to take positive action and were still perceived as legitimate journalism. Respondents expressed a greater preference for solution-framed news. The conclusion is that more constructive journalism would better serve society.
Most people's actions serve goals that, defined abstractly enough, are quite similar to one another. The authors thus proposed, and found, that construing action in abstract (vs. concrete) terms relates to perceiving greater similarity among persons both within and across different social groups (Studies 1-3). By fostering perspective taking, viewing action abstractly also related to empathizing with and expressing willingness to help nonstigmatized and stigmatized others (e.g., AIDS patients; Studies 3-5) and to donating money to help those in need (Study 6). These findings held when controlling for ideological, motivational, and broad personality variables. Abstract action construals, then, appear to blur social distinctions, fostering perspective taking and empathy on the one hand but also perceptions of group homogeneity on the other.
This experiment examined the impact of photo–text congruency regarding solutions journalism. We tested the effects of solution and conflict-oriented news stories when the photo paired with the story was congruent or incongruent with the narrative. Results revealed that a solution-oriented story with a congruent photo made readers feel the most positive, but surprisingly readers were most interested in the story and reported the strongest behavioral intentions when the story was paired with a neutral photo.
This study adds visual analysis to the body of work on solutions journalism. Guided by visual theory focusing on the dominating nature of messages included in visual content versus text, we use content analysis to explore the use of photos in solutions-oriented news stories, specifically to see whether the photos published alongside solutions-based news stories also represent solutions or whether they portray an incongruent message. Among our results, we found photos reflect the solution depicted in the story only 63.5 percent of the time. Photos taken by an internal source (e.g. staff photographer) are more likely to depict the solution than if obtained by an external source (e.g. wire service). In addition, the higher the emotional appeal and positive emotion found in the photo, the higher the likelihood that the photo reflects a solution. A contradictory visual may complicate the message of the solutions in the story. Our findings suggest more emphasis must be placed on the study of visuals as they relate to solutions journalism, and on the selection of photos to accompany solutions-oriented stories.
For a well-functioning democracy, it is crucial that children consume news. However, news can elicit overly negative emotions and discourage engagement in children. The question, therefore, is how news can be adapted to children's sensitivities and needs but can still inform them. This study investigated whether constructive reporting (solution-based narratives including positive emotions) in news about negative events improved emotional responses and encouraged engagement (intention and inspiration to engage). In an experiment, 8–13-year-olds (N = 332) read a story containing either constructive elements or not. Constructive news elicited lower levels of negative emotional responses and provided more inspiration for engagement than nonconstructive news. These promising findings open doors for follow-up investigations regarding constructive news reporting, also among adult audiences.
This experimental study investigates how imagery and text in news coverage of climate change affect perceptions of issue importance, efficacy, and intentions to conserve energy and engage in climate change-related political behavior. The results reveal that images of solar panels and texts that discuss actions to address climate change increase individuals’ perceptions of efficacy. Perceived efficacy and issue importance each have a positive association with behavior change. In contrast to previous studies, the present investigation finds no evidence that exposure to images of either climate impacts or climate pollution negatively influence perceived efficacy or positively influence perceived issue importance.
G*Power (Erdfelder, Faul, & Buchner, 1996) was designed as a general stand-alone power analysis program for statistical tests commonly used in social and behavioral research. G*Power 3 is a major extension of, and improvement over, the previous versions. It runs on widely used computer platforms (i.e., Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X 10.4) and covers many different statistical tests of the t, F, and chi2 test families. In addition, it includes power analyses for z tests and some exact tests. G*Power 3 provides improved effect size calculators and graphic options, supports both distribution-based and design-based input modes, and offers all types of power analyses in which users might be interested. Like its predecessors, G*Power 3 is free.
The visual information presented in televised news constitutes an important underused and underestimated information resource. After pointing out that human brains extract valuable information from audiovisuals more quickly and more easily than from purely verbal information, the author discusses the advantages of audiovisual processing. They include a more comprehensive and error-free grasp of information, better recall, and greater emotional involvement. Attention then turns to research findings about the content and format of current television news. It is richer than generally believed in significant visually conveyed information that is not covered by the words. It falls far short, however, of taking full advantage of the medium's potential to serve as a vicarious political experience and to offer benefit from the intimacy of the involvement. The article ends with a plea to focus television news on information that citizens in the post-Gutenberg era really need to know in order to carry out the civic functions that they actually perform.
The article focuses on the development of a global discourse of compassion, which has grown in the intersection between politics, humanitarian organizations, the media and the public. In the media there is a growing focus on distant victims of civil wars, genocide, massacres and other violence against civil populations. In the critical media debate it is a common view that the audience is left unmoved by the pictures of distant death and pain. The article presents audience studies, which show a two-sided effect of global compassion on the one hand and indifference on the other. It is shown that compassion is often a more female reaction while indifference is more common among male audiences. It is further shown that there are different forms of compassion as well as different forms of indifference. The results challenge or strongly modulate the thesis about a pronounced compassion fatigue among people in general.
Respondents examined an experimental news magazine composed of manipulated and unmanipulated articles about relevant social issues. The manipulated articles either featured no photograph, an innocuous photograph, or a photograph depicting others' impending or manifest victimization. Respondents were free to read whatever they deemed of interest. Time restriction did not allow them, however, to read all available articles in their entirety. Under these selective-exposure conditions, article preferences and reading times were unobtrusively recorded. Additionally, an information-acquisition test was administered after the reading of the magazine. It was found that the text of articles accompanied by photographs, especially by photographs depicting victimization, was read for longer periods of time. Moreover, the acquisition of textual information was markedly facilitated by the presence of photographs depicting victimization.
Peace journalism is defined as a special mode of socially responsible journalism which contributes to the peaceful settlement of conflicts. Although this concept has been widely discussed, there has been no assessment of its underlying philosophy from the perspective of mass communication theory. This paper argues that peace journalism draws epistemologically from a naive realism and is, according to mass communication theory, largely based on the assumption of powerful, causal and linear media effects. By contrast, the author theorizes journalism as a highly autonomous though not autarkic system whose function is to provide social co-orientation. If that is true, it cannot be the task of journalism to engage actively in the peaceful settlement of conflicts since this is the task of politics or the military. There is, however, no doubt that journalism can contribute to the peaceful settlement of conflicts, but its potential influence is limited. After discussing peace journalism for three decades many questions remain unanswered. This contribution will, therefore, identify some important issues for further research.
There are several noteworthy debates associated with the study of emotion. For example, which comes first-emotion or cognition? Or, even more basic, what feature most centrally defines emotion? Although undoubtedly conceptually important, the more pressing question for scholars within our discipline is: which approach to emotion is most useful for understanding communication-based phenomena-the discrete or the dimensional view? Here I argue that, although these two perspectives share some very basic root elements, we must look for the best match between the phenomena under consideration and the unique strengths of the theoretical paradigms applied to them. Given the complexity of communication-related processes and outcomes, the more complex orientation to the study of emotion-the discrete emotion perspective-is most useful as what little might be lost in parsimony is more than offset by the precision gained in prediction. In this essay, I will first define emotion and the two major approaches to its study. I will then argue that given that unique emotion states ( generated by unique appraisal patterns) are the key motivator behind differences in human thought, word, and deed, it is most reasonable to adopt a discrete perspective to the extent those outcomes are of interest. I will then present evidence from several domains of literature to demonstrate the value of the discrete over the dimensional view in the study of communication-related issues.
Journalism as it is currently practiced — conveying information, often with questionable objectivity — has contributed to the crisis in our public life. A middle ground exists between disinterest and activism by which the profession can assist in the replenishment of civic capital.
In recent years, abundant evidence from behavioral and cognitive studies and functional-imaging experiments has indicated that individuals come to understand the emotional and affective states expressed by others with the help of the neural architecture that produces such states in themselves. Such a mechanism gives rise to shared representations, which constitutes one important aspect of empathy, although not the sole one. We. suggest that other components, including people's ability to monitor and regulate cognitive and emotional processes to prevent confusion between self and other, are equally necessary parts of a functional model of empathy. We discuss data from recent functional-imaging studies in support of such a model and highlight the role of specific brain regions, notably the insula, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the right temporo-parietal region. Because this model assumes that empathy relies on dissociable information-processing mechanisms, it predicts a variety of structural or functional dysfunctions, depending on which mechanism is disrupted.
This study examines the relationship between media coverage, elite cues, and emotion in shaping public opinion about use of force. It utilizes data across three time periods: an experiment conducted in early 2005 during the Iraq War, National Election Studies data collected during the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, and NES data collected shortly after the U.S./coalition victory in the 1991 Gulf War. The study finds that contrary to conventional wisdom, media exert less influence on public opinion when they report negative or controversial news than when they reflect elite consensus and/or patriotic fervor. However, their importance is likely dependent upon the state of elite opinion, and thus media are best thought of as intervening variables between policymakers and the public.
Discusses the cognitive and the psychophysical determinants of choice in risky and riskless contexts. The psychophysics of value induce risk aversion in the domain of gains and risk seeking in the domain of losses. The psychophysics of chance induce overweighting of sure things and of improbable events, relative to events of moderate probability. Decision problems can be described or framed in multiple ways that give rise to different preferences, contrary to the invariance criterion of rational choice. The process of mental accounting, in which people organize the outcomes of transactions, explains some anomalies of consumer behavior. In particular, the acceptability of an option can depend on whether a negative outcome is evaluated as a cost or as an uncompensated loss. The relationships between decision values and experience values and between hedonic experience and objective states are discussed. (27 ref)
The use of photographs to augment media reports of kidnapping victims in Iraq has sparked debates over the effects of such images on the public and, ultimately, the politics surrounding the event. We considered the effects of such images in a sample of British university students during the 2004 kidnapping of British citizen Kenneth Bigley. Drawing on emotions theory, we examined the effects of graphic images on emotional reactions and attitudes towards negotiations. Half of the participants were exposed to photographs of the victim that had recently been published in a national newspaper. The other half were not shown any images. As predicted, the photographs increased fear reactions amongst participants compared to no photograph controls. Fear and sympathy, but not anger, predicted attitudes towards negotiation. The photographs used in this study thus indirectly increased participants' support for negotiating with and submitting to the demands of the captors. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Compassionate horror or compassion fatigue? Responses to human-costof-war photographs
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