William Christopher | 2025 I.S. Symposium

Name: William Christopher
Title: Framing, Polarization and Their Effects on Political Agency, Engagement and Climate Change Anxiety
Majors: Psychology; Political Science
Advisors: Dr. Susan Clayton; Dr. Sekwen Kim

This study examined the relationship between the media framing of climate change and five related variables: climate change anxiety, climate change engagement, climate agency, political engagement, and political agency. Prior research is divided on how we best frame climate media to encourage political engagement and enhance self-agency in Americans. The goal of this research was to shed light on this debate while also uncovering which variables inform political decisions in a diverse sample of Americans. Political polarization and voting behavior were among the variables analyzed that have not been considered extensively in prior climate and framing research. Through analysis of framing conditions, it was hypothesized that loss-framed media would be least effective in enhancing people’s agency and encouraging political engagement. This hypothesis was tested using a sample of N = 212 American adults exposed to framed news followed by a survey to scale for variables. Significant results were not found related to framing effects. Despite this, significant results regarding political ideology and identity discrepancies were found related to all five variables. These results communicate the importance of identity and party beliefs in American politics.

Posted in Symposium 2025 on May 1, 2025.