Exploring the Framing Effects of Emotion: Do Discrete Emotions Differentially Influence Information Accessibility, Information Seeking, and Policy Preference?

The persuasive effects of emotions have been the focus of burgeoning interest in recent years. Rather than considering how emotions function within traditional paradigms of attitude change, this research explores the possibility that emotions serve as frames for issues, privileging certain information in terms of accessibility and thus guiding subsequent decision making. This study’s results offer evidence that fear and anger can differentially affect information accessibility, desired information seeking, and policy preference, though these effects may be contingent on schema development. These findings support not only the relationship between emotions and frames but also the importance of the discrete emotion perspective in persuasive contexts.