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Updated: May 17, 2026
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Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects
Published on: November 30, 2018
Language use depending on news frame and immigrant origin.
Itziar Fernández1, Juan-José Igartua, Félix Moral
1Department of Social Psychology, Spanish University of Distance Teaching, Madrid, Spain. ifernandez@psi.uned.es
Summary
Media framing of immigration influences language. Crime frames increase abstract and negative language, while economic frames increase complex language, mediated by attitudes toward immigration.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Media Studies
- Linguistics
Background:
- Media narratives significantly shape public perception and discourse.
- Framing of news stories, particularly on sensitive topics like immigration, can influence audience interpretation and language use.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how different media news frames (crime vs. economic contribution) and group cues (Moroccan vs. Latin American immigrants) affect individuals' language use.
- To analyze the abstraction, complexity, and negative affective content of language in response to immigration news.
Main Methods:
- 523 participants were exposed to one of four experimental conditions varying news frame and group cue.
- Content analysis utilized the Linguistic Category Model (LCM) for abstraction and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) for complexity and negative affect.
- Regression analyses and structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed to examine mediating effects.
Main Results:
- The crime news frame led to more abstract and negative affective language compared to the economic contribution frame.
- Complex language was more prevalent when the news frame highlighted economic contributions.
- Attitudes toward immigration mediated the effect of the news frame on negative affective language.
- An interaction effect showed abstract language was particularly characteristic when immigration was framed as crime involving Moroccan immigrants.
Conclusions:
- Media framing critically influences language use and attitudes towards immigration.
- The framing of immigration news can activate specific linguistic patterns and reinforce existing biases.
- Understanding framing effects is crucial for analyzing media's role in shaping public opinion and discourse on immigration.
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