Framed! It’s not easy to change people’s minds, especially about big, complex issues. Attitudes and beliefs are deeply rooted and research shows that people don’t want to hear something that doesn’t fit in with the way they see the world. Uhhh, did someone say global warming?
So how do we overcome this and create change? It all lies in the way we frame an issue or tell a story. The Frameworks Institute has developed the following guidelines for communicating about social issues:
- Provide a strong alternative way of seeing the problem and prime it with values.
- Resist the temptation to make sympathy, charity or crisis the motivation.
- Appeal to people as problem solvers.
- Make the system the problem, not the people.
- Identify solutions early in the message.
- Don’t shame, blame, factionalize or “partisanize.”
Read more or take the Framework Institute’s free e-workshop on framing.
- Emily Meyers & Marisa Murgatroyd
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* Benjamin, Diana. “Communication Matters - Framing Social Issues for Public Understanding and Support.” Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation. 22 May 2008. Frameworks Institute. 25 June 2009.