Saving Polar Bears in the Heartland? Using Framing Theory to Create Regional Environmental Communications

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dc.contributor.authorLewman, Hannah Hope
dc.date.accessioned2018-12-15T17:16:12Z
dc.date.available2018-12-15T17:16:12Z
dc.date.issued2018-06
dc.description104 pages. Presented to the School of Journalism and Communication and the Robert D. Clark Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts June 2018
dc.description.abstractDespite the overwhelming evidence for anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change, a significant portion of the American public remains unconvinced. This disconnect between scientific certainty and public skepticism calls for communications that help to increase acknowledgment of climate change and support for adaptation strategies. This thesis examines framing theory and regional target audiences as a means of creating more effective environmental communications. A study of 1,000 respondents shows how people from nine different regions of the United States answer questions about climate change after exposure to eight messages that frame climate change in different ways. This study does not reveal many significant changes in attitude after exposure to different frames, nor is there a clear way to frame climate change differently in each region of the United States. What this study does reveal is that the most effective environmental communications are ones that do not threaten the lifestyles and identities of their audiences. This article includes a discussion of best practices for creating communications that balance audiences’ two key functions: acquiring information and protecting their identities.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/24030
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregon
dc.rightsCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-US
dc.subjectAdvertisingen_US
dc.subjectRegional environmental communicationsen_US
dc.subjectFraming theoryen_US
dc.subjectEnvironmental communicationen_US
dc.subjectRegional culturesen_US
dc.subjectTarget audiencesen_US
dc.subjectEnvironmental advertisingen_US
dc.subjectStrategic communicationen_US
dc.titleSaving Polar Bears in the Heartland? Using Framing Theory to Create Regional Environmental Communications
dc.typeThesis/Dissertation

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