Guarding Your Frame of Reference – Part 2
In Part 1, we spoke about guarding our moral and ethical frame of reference, but there is another type of framing we should be aware of.
The kind of frame I’m talking about is a concept from social theory. Frames are emotional filters by which we make sense of the world.
Frames are essentially templates we develop as we go through life. We use these templates to more efficiently interpret the meaning of a situation or event and as such these frames determine how we will respond to the situation or event.
To explain: As we go through life, events happen. In an effort to explain and understand the events we attach a meaning to significant or recurring events. Different people can attach different meanings to the same event. They develop a different filter through which they view that event.
People don’t apply frames as such. They project them. In other words you don’t even know you’re doing it. You don’t see a certain scenario or event and then apply the filter; instead you’re constantly projecting your filters into your world unconsciously.
Frames are useful because they give our brains an efficient way to make sense of the world in that the brain just applies a frame (or series of frames called a schema) to an event or situation and interprets it through the filter of those predetermined assumptions and associations. So the brain doesn’t have to recalculate and make assumptions and associations from scratch.
So framing is good n’kay? But here are two ways in which they are bad. Just having awareness of this will go a long way to providing an antidote…
Framing Used ON Us
An example of framing is when a politician wants to “drill for oil”. They might frame the issue by instead saying they’re “discovering new sources of energy.” There are negative environmental associations linked to “drilling for oil,” but “discovering new sources of energy” on the other hand sounds like progress.
Or an employer wants to, “optimise efficiency and productivity,” instead of, “firing some people and making the rest work harder.”
The same idea, depending on how you language it, could either be accepted or rejected. It just depends on how it’s framed.
In the video clip, the people are offered the same choice, just framed differently. The choice is whether they would like to have twenty pounds and walk away or gamble for fifty and risk losing it all. The choice is framed in two ways: The choice is framed firstly as a possible gain of thirty pounds, and secondly as a loss of thirty pounds with the potential to win it back.
The choice is in reality the same, but since human psychology dictates that we will do more to prevent or recover from loss than to effect an equal gain, our decisions are different.
Now that you are aware of this you will see through attempts by others to use framing to manipulate you.
Framing Used BY Us
Frames are unconsciously developed throughout life’s events but they’re also developed by things like watching TV and listening to the radio. I remember recently I was sitting at News Cafe in Rivonia, Sandton. On my right was a stunningly beautiful Bulgarian woman and to my left a huge Bulgarian man who hardly bothered to open his eyes when he spoke. I remember feeling a distinct sense of apprehension, borderline fear, about this guy.
I finally whispered to my friend, “Is he dangerous?” My friend laughed and said, “Patrofski? Dude Pat is harmless.” The lady turned to me laughing and said in an accent that instantly spurred visions in my mind of pulling into her mid-sentence, “You watch too much movies.”
Hollywood had successfully created a frame in my mind about Russians and Bulgarians. According to this frame, they were dangerous.
Lastly
Clearly framing is a useful tool for you to use in situations that require tact or persuasion. The bad side of framing emerges when we stereotype, because that’s essentially what framing is.
A frame can be created in an instant. How many times have you made a comment like for example, “French people are [good trait] or [bad trait]” or “Americans are [good trait] or [bad trait]” when in fact you’ve maybe only met one or two French or American people. You frame an entire nation of, in the case of the USA, almost half a billion people from 52 different cultures, by your experience and perceptions of only one or two of them. This is basically the foundation of racism.
Look at poor harmless Patrovski. He might have wondered why for no good reason I didn’t as much as glance his way all evening. Having realised the folly of my frame, I ended up getting along with Pat like a house on fire and sharing many laughs.
We need to be aware of framing and eliminate frames that don’t serve us. Also, framing isn’t from the devil; if most Bulgarians were indeed a dangerous breed and I developed that stereotype over years of watching the news and reading about it, then that frame could have saved my life from a bloody Russian-mafia-style death.
It turns out that that particular frame didn’t serve me well because it was developed from watching too much fiction.