Framing Effects in Narrative and Non-Narrative Risk Messages

Area of Science:

• Health Communication
• Psychology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Narrative messages are increasingly utilized in health and risk campaigns.
• Gain/loss framing effects are well-documented in non-narrative health communication.
• The impact of framing on narrative message reception remains under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether gain/loss framing effects apply to narrative health and risk messages.
• To compare framing effects in narrative versus non-narrative message formats.
• To assess the influence of framing on audience judgments and preferences within health contexts.

Main Methods:

• Three experiments were conducted to test framing effects in narrative messages.
• Experiment 1 used a narrative derived from prospect theory, examining character judgments.
• Experiments 2 and 3 compared framing effects in narrative versus decision-based or non-narrative presentations across different health scenarios.

Main Results:

• In Experiment 1, only the character's decision, not message framing, influenced judgments.
• Experiment 2 demonstrated that a framing effect present in a decision format disappeared in a narrative format.
• Experiment 3 found no significant difference in treatment preference (surgery vs. radiation) between narrative and non-narrative presentations.

Conclusions:

• Health and risk campaigns should not assume framing effects translate directly from non-narrative to narrative message formats.
• The narrative structure may mitigate or alter traditional framing effects observed in direct decision-making contexts.
• Future research should explore the psychological mechanisms underlying these differences and optimize narrative message design for health campaigns.