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Communication Research, Vol. 32, No. 4, 503-528 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0093650205277321

Switching Social Identities:

The Influence of Editorial Framing on Reader Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action and African Americans

John D. Richardson

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

An experiment investigated the impact of editorial framing on readers’ political cognitions and affect toward a different racial group. Participants read mock newspaper editorials endorsing Grutter v. Bollinger, a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding affirmative action in higher education. The editorials were systematically manipulated to present different frames in four randomly assigned versions: remedial action, diversity, combined (both frames), and control (neither frame). Frame inductions did not significantly influence support for affirmative action. However, exposure to editorials presenting the diversity frame moderated the relation between Whites’ pretested interracial attitudes (modern racism, White guilt, and belief in White privilege) and support for affirmative action. Editorials presenting the diversity frame also induced White participants to score higher on a measure of pro-Black affect. Overall, the results suggest that frames can activate distinct social identities within the minds of readers, priming their applicability to the task at hand.

Key Words: framing • social identity • recategorization • race • affirmative action • diversity • modern racism • White guilt • belief in White privilege


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N.-J. Lee, D. M. McLeod, and D. V. Shah
Framing Policy Debates: Issue Dualism, Journalistic Frames, and Opinions on Controversial Policy Issues
Communication Research, October 1, 2008; 35(5): 695 - 718.
[Abstract] [PDF]