Dont Think of an Elephant George Lakoff Frames

Don’t Think of an Elephant! George Lakoff

Frames George Lakoff ² Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at University of California, Berkeley ² Founding senior fellow at Rockridge Institute: ² Specializes in applying cognitive linguistics to use in framing political discourse ² Author of Moral Politics; Women, Fire and Dangerous Things ² Helped Bill Clinton and Howard Dean frame their messages

Frames ² Mental structures that shape the way we see the world ² Part of the “cognitive unconscious” ² We know frames through language ² All words are defined relative to conceptual frames ² When you hear a word its frame (or collection of frames) is activated in your brain ² Reframing – changing the way the public sees the world.

Frames

Frames “Don’t Think of an Elephant!” ² Elephant - word evokes a frame ² Negating the frame evokes the frame ² Nixon: “I am not a crook. ” ² 2012 2 nd Presidential debate – last question Lakoff: “Repeat something over and it gets in people’s brains. ”

2012 2 nd Presidential Debate – Final Question Romney

2012 2 nd Presidential Debate – Final Question Obama

Frames Tax Relief ² What do people need ‘relief’ from? ² Relief implies: ² An affliction ² An afflicted party ² A reliever who removes the affliction and is therefore a hero ² Tax + Relief = metaphor: Taxation is an affliction ² There are victims, heroes and villains ² This is a frame ² The language evokes these ideas

Frames Reminder: Metaphor ² Definition: A comparison which imaginatively identifies one thing with another dissimilar thing, and transfers or ascribes to the first thing (the tenor or idea) some of the qualities of the second (the vehicle or image). Unlike a simile or analogy, metaphor asserts that one thing is another thing, not just that one is like another.

Frames Permission Slip ² Bush State of the Union Address: “We do not need a permission slip to defend America. ” ² “Permission Slip” = metaphor ² Not: “We won’t ask permission” ² What is the frame of the permission slip? ² We are not children ² Others are not adults

Frames The Nation as a Family • Founding fathers • Daughters of the American Revolution • We send our “sons” to war

Frames Strict Father Model ² (Conservative frame) Assumptions: 1. The world will always be a dangerous place because it is filled with evil 2. The world is difficult, competitive and there will always be winners and losers 3. There is absolute right and wrong 4. Children are born bad in the sense - want to do what feels good rather than what is right 5. They have to be made good

Frames Strict Father Model, cont. ²Solution: a Strict Father who will ² Protect family in a dangerous world ² Support family in a difficult world ² Teach children right from wrong

Frames Strict Father Model, cont. ² Children must: ² Develop internal discipline ² Learn obedience ² Be punished (painfully) by moral authority to learn right from wrong ² Punishment will help children: ² Develop internal discipline ² Be obedient ² Act morally in the future ² Without punishment the world will go to hell - There will be no morality.

Frames Strict Father Model, cont. ² Secondary Effect: ² Disciplined people who pursue their self interest in a land of opportunity will become prosperous and self reliant. ² The Strict Father worldview is linked to free market capitalism ² Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” – self interest is good ² “Do Gooders: ” ² Interfere with pursuing self-interest ² Screw up the system

Frames Strict Father Model, cont. ² Thus: Good children who learn right from wrong are disciplined, pursue self-interest, prosper and become self-reliant ² As adults they do not need their father’s guidance ² Paternal influence = meddling ² Politically, the government shouldn’t meddle

Social Programs and the Strict Frames Father Model ² Social Programs are Immoral - ² create dependency ² Budget Deficits – ² “starves the beast” - Grover Norquist ² Conservatives “are not merely a bunch of crazies, or mean and greedy – or stupid – people…”

Frames Foreign Policy ² US = moral authority ² Most countries (including in the UN) are “developing” or “underdeveloped countries” = metaphorical children ² Assumption: ² Communication should be one-way in such a relationship

The Progressive Moral System: Frames The Nurturant Parent Model ² (Progressive frame) Assumptions 1. Both parents equally responsible for raising children 2. Children are born good and can be made better 3. The world can be made a better place and it is our job to make it better 4. The parents job is to nurture their children and raise their children to be nurturant of others ² Nurturance = Empathy and responsibility

The Nurturant Parent Model, cont. Frames ² Other values 1. protection – crime, drugs, smoking, additives in food, terrorism 2. Being a fulfilled, happy person (parents and children) ² And more: 3. Freedom 4. opportunity and prosperity 5. Fairness 6. open, two-way communication 7. community building, service to community, cooperation in community 8. Trust and honesty 3.

Frames History of the Conservative Movement 1950’s: conservatives hated each other United around William F. Buckley Jr. Started Magazines and Think Tanks During the Vietnam War “conservative” was a dirty word 1970 Lewis Powell, before being appointed to the Supreme Court, wrote the Powell Memo: ² Need to: ² start institutes within and outside universities ² research and write books ² endow professorships ² William Simon, Secretary of Treasury under Nixon, convinced Coors, Scaife, and Olin (American businessmen) to set up: The Heritage Foundation; Olin Professorships; Olin Institute At Harvard; and other institutions ² ² ²

Result of Conservative Efforts Frames ² In 2002: ² 4 X as much money was spent by the right ² Received 4 X the media coverage ² Think Tanks frame issues and have media studios ² Grover Norquist holds a weekly meeting of 80 people

Frames Myths Believed by Liberals 2. Enlightenment Myth that people are Rational Actors ² Example 1: Progressive policies = money in the pockets of the middle class and poor ² But they voted for Bush ² Example 2: 2003 Recall Election: Focus groups show voters agree that Gray Davis policies are favored ² But they planned on voting for Schwarzenegger 3. Political Campaigns should be Issue Driven ² Liberals do this and lose. Their campaigns are concatenations of issues. ² Conservatives are idealistically driven

Frames Myths Believed by Liberals 1. The Enlightenment Myth that the Truth will set us free ²Myth: If people hear the facts, they will reach the right conclusions ²Truth: If the facts don’t fit the frame, the frame stays and the facts bounce off ²[Narrative or cultural premises are more deeply rooted] ²Example: “The president lied about the war” ²People still believe Hussein was behind Sept 11 ²Conflate Hussein and Al Qaeda

Frames Ideas Come First ² “Tax relief” economical - Progressive “ideas” take a paragraph to explain ² No established frame, no fixed idea exists ² Hypocognition – lack of an idea distilled into word or phrase ² Tahitians suffered from a high suicide rate – have no word for “grief” ² Democrats suffer from hypocognition ² Withdrawal from Iraq - closest = Vietnamization ² Tax Relief reconsidered / reframed: 1. Taxes as an investment. 2. Taxes as paying your dues ²Establishing a frame takes time and money!

The Goal of Elections: Frames Activate your Model 1. Win the 20 -30% of voters in the middle ² Voters in the middle use both the strict father model and nurturant parent model 2. Activate the opposite model in voters who support the opposition ² Clinton used conservative language: “welfare reform” “The age of big government is over” ² Bush: Compassionate conservatism; Clear Skies Initiative Healthy Forests; No Child Left Behind

Frames Frank Luntz ² Republican Pollster and Idea man ² Utilizes polls and focus groups ² Assembles books of language guidelines for conservatives ² On the environment: Conservatives use words like: “Healthy, ” “clean, ” “safe” ² “climate change” not “global warming” ² Talking to women use words and phrases like: “Love, ” “from the heart, ” “for the children” ² Message Discipline: ² Pizza fund – put in a quarter for the “wrong” language

Frames Framing at Work The Frame. Works Institute works to advance the nonprofit sector's communications capacity by identifying, translating and modeling relevant scholarly research for framing the public discourse about social problems. http: //www. frameworksinstitute. org/

Frames Suggestion ² Check out You. Tube videos of George Lakoff explaining these concepts!