Transcript Slide 1

Advocate’s College,
Condensed Version
March 20, 2012
Janet Byrd
Alison McIntosh
Neighborhood Partnerships
We Need to Build Public Will
"Public sentiment is
everything. With public
sentiment, nothing can fail;
without it nothing can
succeed. Consequently, he
who molds public sentiment
goes deeper than he who
enacts statutes or pronounces
decisions. He makes statutes
and decisions possible or
impossible to be executed.“
- Abraham Lincoln
patterns of association
media
cultural models
frames
knowledge
stories
We are not blank
myths
slates
stereotypes
experience
Frames are mental structures
that help people understand
the world, based on particular
cues from outside themselves
that activate assumptions and
values they hold within
themselves. Berkeley Media Studies Group
Framing Happens
• Frames are used by our
brains to make sense of
incoming information
• It happens fast
• Once triggered, they are
hard to dislodge
UFALTUX
Framing is Always Happening
• If we do not pay attention to
how we frame our issues
people will default to the
“pictures in their heads”
Master Narratives
Whenever we engage in public debates we
may think of ourselves as conduits of
information. However, our audiences
think about those same policies, issues,
and programs in terms of the background
story— the master narrative —that lies
beneath our bullet-points, facts, statistics,
and legal citations.
The Triumphant
Individual
“Self-Made Man” – Irene Ritter
Independence
The Benevolent
Community
Dave Kolpack / AP
Interdependence
Tools to re-imagine the world
• Speaking to values
• Aspiration vs. Desperation
• Portrait vs. Landscape
• Limit of Facts
• Social Math
• Shared Benefit
Speaking to Values
Directs Thinking
Values Matter
• We reason first from deeply held
values.
• Values help answer: “Why does
this matter to me/us?”
• We need to start with Values,
not with the policy and program
details
Levels of Thinking
• Level One – Big ideas:
protection, justice, family well-being,
equality, opportunity, prosperity
• Level Two – Issues:
housing, the environment, children’s
issues, workforce development
• Level Three – Policies:
pay equity, bycatch, SCHIP presumptive
eligibility, EITC
Why does this matter?
“Every child should have access
to immunizations but too many
families in our community are
not bringing their children in to
our clinics. This is why we are
proposing a new agency rule
requiring more clinic hours . . .”
Speak to Values First
“The health of the whole community is
protected when we ensure that our
children are immunized. One of the
ways we do this is through our public
health agencies that provide free and
low cost immunizations for all
children. We need extended clinic
hours to keep up with growing
demands. ”
Solution Oriented Language
Aspiration
Chicken Little
Desperation
Used with permission
The FrameWorks Institute
Copyright 2008
New Mexico
Land that used to be Enchanting
New Mexico – Land of Enchantment
The wild lands of New Mexico have been the source of
our spirit and culture for a thousand years. We have a
legacy of living with the land, not just on it. A new
century poses new challenges – balancing growth and
prosperity with the open space that is our heritage. The
Wilderness Alliance is working to keep this balance and
ensure that New Mexico remains enchanting for future
generations . . .
Rolling to Solution
5% What’s Wrong
15% What’s at Stake
80% What Needs to Happen
Landscape versus Portrait
Stories
Portrait
Landscape
Different Stories = Different Solutions
•
•
•
•
•
Portraits
Individuals
Events
Private
Better information
Fix the person
•
•
•
•
•
Landscapes
Issues
Trends
Public
Better Policies
Fix the Condition
- Based on work by Iyengar and Gilliam
Frames Influence Decisions
“Every frame defines the issue,
explains who is responsible, and
suggests potential solutions. All of
this is conveyed by images,
stereotypes, or anecdotes.”
- Charlotte Ryan, Prime Time Activism, 1991
Alternative Frames
Youth at Home Disobeys Warnings:
Knocked out in storm-related accident
Girl at Home Injured during Storm:
Home had been cited for building code violations
Teen hurt in freak storm:
“I was terrified.”
Facts?
The Limits of “Facts”
Facts do not penetrate the world where
our beliefs abide; facts did not give birth
to our beliefs, and they do not destroy
them. Facts can contradict beliefs
constantly without weakening them in
the least...
- Proust
Facts do not Trump Frames
Understanding means finding a story you
already know and saying, “Oh yeah, that
one.” Even just one piece of affirming
information about a stereotype is sufficient
to confirm the entire stereotype, whereas
presentation of even several disconfirming
cues has little effect on disconfirming the
stereotype.
- (Schank, 1998 & Gurwitz and Dodge, 1977)
The Power of Metaphors
Numbers don’t
tell stories by
themselves
“Social Math” can
make numbers
more vivid and
understandable
Social Math
Converting large numbers into
comprehensible and compelling images to
which people can relate.
 Break down numbers by time
 Break down numbers by place
 Provide comparisons with familiar things
 Provide ironic comparisons
 Personalize numbers
News For Change, 1999
Social Math Examples
One of the more shocking measures of our
“prosperity” is the fact that the United States
spends more on trash bags than 90 other
countries spend on everything. In other words,
the receptacles of our waste cost more than all
of the goods consumed by nearly half of the
world’s nations.
Fast Company, March 2003, p. 74
How to Lead a Rich Life:
Revised and updated for a poor economy
Social Math Examples
Number of candy-bar wrappers needed to
win a basketball as part of Cadbury’s new
anti-obesity campaign: 90
Number of hours an 85-pound child would
need to play basketball in order to burn off
the calories in that many candy bars: 100
-Harpers Index, August 2003
Social Math Examples
A medium combo
(popcorn & soda) at
Regal has 1,610 calories
and 60 grams of
saturated fat. That's
roughly the saturated fat
of a stick of butter and
the calories of two sticks
of butter.
Social Math, Exercise
• Using the facts or figures you brought with
you today:
– Spend 10 minutes trying to turn one of these
statistics into an example of social math.
– Spend 5 minutes sharing with your neighbor and
helping each other improve the example.
EXERCISE
The
“Message Box”
The Message Box
• A tool to keep you “on message”
• Helps distill your key arguments to the ones
you need to repeat over and over.
• Keeps you focused on Level One Values and
Solutions
• Gives you the “cheat sheet” for interviews and
debates.
• The place you bridge and pivot back to from
hard questions and damaging frames.
Vision
Problem
Solution
Values
Your vision for the community, state,
society. A sense of the purpose and
goal that drives you to seek the
change you are working for. Your
aspiration and inspiration.
A clear statement
The solution you
of the problem you
are proposing
Vision
are trying to
and the
Problem
Solution
address in a way
principles or
that everyone can
outcomes it is
Values
see their stake in
designed to
addressing the
achieve.
issue.
The Level One Values that underpin the
challenge and your proposed solution.
The answer to the “why does it matter”
question.
Practice
In teams of three:
• Fill out a message box on an issue or policy
you work on.
• Share your message box with your partners
for feedback and modify based on comments.
• Prepare one or two hard questions. Role play
Q&A with the questions, using the message
box to keep your answers “on message.”
Frames Create Reality
“The way in which the world is
imagined determines at any
particular time what men will do.”
-Walter Lippman, 1921
-(courtesy of Dr. Frank Gilliam)
Questions?