Are negative frames equally sticky across cultural contexts? Exploring sequential framing effects with Arab participants in the UAE

Abstract

A growing body of research on reframing effects has shown a robust negativity bias among U.S. participants: In many circumstances, people's attitudes change less when framing switches from negative to positive than when it switches from positive to negative. Here, we test the generalizability of this effect beyond a narrow U.S. context, exploring whether similar results would emerge with Arab university students holding a variety of nationalities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Participants considered a cognitive training regimen scenario that was first presented in negative or positive terms, then reframed in the opposing way. They reported their attitudes toward the cognitive regimen after the initial frame, and again after reframing, then completed a trend reversal task. Suggesting that effects extend beyond narrow U.S. samples, Arab university students in the UAE showed similar single-shot and sequential framing effects as multiple samples of U.S. American participants, in spite of the fact that they showed different patterns of cognitive thought related to trend reversal. By advancing emerging priorities in social-cognitive research and following best practices in replications and cross-cultural research, this work helps better calibrate the size and generalizability of negativity bias in sequential framing while increasing representation in social-cognitive research.

Keywords

• Framing effects
• Negativity bias
• Sequential framing
• Trend reversal
• Culture