Reframing Aging:

Jennifer Nichols, PhDAssistant Director of Research Interpretation and Application

Building Public Support with Evidence-Based Storytelling

May 17, 2017

The Power of Purpose: LeadingAge NC Annual ConferencePinehurst NC

@FrameWorksInst

• National Human Services Assembly - how to build support for a range of social services and reframe the conversation about supporting healthy development across the lifespan

• DentaQuest Foundation – how to advance access and equity in oral health, across the lifespan

• Enterprise Community Foundation– how to talk about affordable housing and its connection to life trajectories and outcomes

• John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation - how to change attitudes toward government and taxes, and make the case for public budgets that meet society’s needs

FrameWorks investigates the communications aspects of social issues

Eight national aging organizations recognized a shared challenge

Work was sponsored by these generous funders

Expert Interviews

21

Cultural Model Interviews

40

Media Content & Field Frame Analysis

592

On-the-StreetInterviews

146

We conducted a comprehensive investigation

PersistenceTrials

60

Usability Trials

26

SurveyExperiments

11,300

Sample Size:

12,185

E CM OTS

TWO BIG QUESTIONS:

1. Why are some stories ineffective?

2. How can we tell more effective stories?

Question #1: Why are some stories ineffective?

A Brief Experiment

A Brief Experiment

A Brief Experiment

A Brief Experiment

There’s a story there, whether or not you’re telling it

Cultural models help us “think fast”

• Cultural models are cognitive short cuts created through years of experience and expectation. They are taken-for-granted and largely automatic assumptions.

• People rely on cultural models to interpret, organize and make meaning out of all sorts of stimuli, including experiences, feelings, thoughts . . . and your communications.

The story Americans fill in about aging

The story Americans fill in about aging

AgingWhat’s in the Swamp of…

• Accumulated wisdom• Self-sufficiency• Staying active• Earned leisure

Ideal vs. Perceived “Real”

• Lifestyle choices• Financial planning

Individualism• Older as “other”• Zero sum• Digital incompetence

“Us” vs “Them”

• Family dispersal• Economic challenges• Social Security is doomed

Nostalgia and Threat of Modernity

• Fatalism/Crisis—nothing can be done

• Better individual choices and planning

• More education and information

Solutions

• Deterioration• Loss of control• Dependency• Determinism

What Surrounds Us Shapes Us

Collective ResponsibilityProblems Can

Be Solved

CM CM CM

CM CM CM

CMCM

CM

12

3

CM CM CM

CM CM CM

Cultural Models: The Basis of Strategic Communications

Multiple models available

Some are more productive than others

Choose the cues that activate

productive models

Old Think New Think

Any Story Will Do What Will That Story Do?

Place Image Here Place Image Here

Question #2: How can we tell more effective

stories about aging?

Research can help us tell effective stories

Interdependence Ingenuity Empathy-6

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Research can help us tell effective stories

Interdependence Ingenuity Empathy-6

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Support for Evidence-Based Addiction Policies

N=6,000

Research can help us tell effective stories

To frame is to make a set of choices

A Well-Framed Story Arc:Answering the public’s big questions about social issues

Why does this matter?

What can we do about it?

If it’s not working, why not?

What’s this about? How does this work?

Why does this matter?

‣VALUES

What can we do about it?

If it’s not working, why not?

What’s this about? How does this work?

Why does this matter?

‣VALUES

What can we do about it?

If it’s not working, why not?

‣ METAPHORS‣ EXAMPLES‣ EXPLANATORY CHAINS

What’s this about? How does this work?

Why does this matter?

‣VALUES

What can we do about it?

‣ PRINCIPLES‣ EFFICACY‣ SOLUTIONS

If it’s not working, why not?

‣ METAPHORS‣ EXAMPLES‣ EXPLANATORY CHAINS

What’s this about? How does this work?

• We should put policies in place that require employers to allow people to take time away from their jobs to provide care for older relatives.

• We should increase public funding for programs that allow older people to contribute to their communities, such as volunteering and mentoring programs.

• Public policy plays a big role in determining how successfully people age—it shapes the options and opportunities we have as we get older.

• Workplace policies should be changed to make it easier for older people to move into new, different careers later in life that make use of their skills.

• We should fund more research on issues associated with aging.

Frames that “work” build support for policy measures such as:

Experimental Design: Identifying Frames that Work

Sample

3000+ online participants (nationally

representative sample)

Experimental Design: Identifying Frames that Work

Sample

3000+ online participants (nationally

representative sample)

Experimental Design: Identifying Frames that Work

Random assignment to

treatment group

Sample

3000+ online participants (nationally

representative sample)

Experimental Design: Identifying Frames that Work

Random assignment to

treatment groupTreatment

groups

1. Frame A 2. Frame B3. Frame C4. Control (no prime)

Sample

3000+ online participants (nationally

representative sample)

Experimental Design: Identifying Frames that Work

Random assignment to

treatment groupTreatment

groups

1. Frame A 2. Frame B3. Frame C4. Control (no prime)

Outcome measures

• Attitudes• Knowledge• Policy support

Sample

3000+ online participants (nationally

representative sample)

Experimental Design: Identifying Frames that Work

Random assignment to

treatment groupTreatment

groups

1. Frame A 2. Frame B3. Frame C4. Control (no prime)

Outcome measures

• Attitudes• Knowledge• Policy support

Analysis

Differences between treatment and control groups (controlling for demographic variability)

How does this work? Why isn’t it working?

What can we do about it?

Why does this matter?

Value: IngenuityLet’s use innovation to re-envision aging in this country.

Metaphor: Building MomentumAs we get older we build momentum, which powers us to take up new ideas and advance toward new goals. This energy powers up our society and moves our communities forward.

Solutions Examples:Intergenerational community centers increase opportunities for older people to participate and contribute.

A reframed narrative: Re-Envisioning AgingAddresses: Us vs. Them, Deterioration/Decline, Fatalism

Recommendation 1:Use values to prime conversations

Values

A broad category of cherished cultural ideals:

enduring beliefs that orient individuals’

attitudes and behaviors.

As a frame element, values do the work of:

• Establishing a collective orientation

• Tapping emotions that work for policy thinking: curiosity, concern, and can-do

ME vs. WEValues help to establish

why an issue matters and what is at stake.

Ingenuity

Your issue matters because:

Strategic way to redirect:

Moves thinking towards:

We are resourceful and can find innovative solutions for the challenges that come when we get older.

• Collective agency• Finding ideas that work and

implementing them thoughtfully• Collective benefits accrue when older

people can contribute

• Fatalism• Us versus Them thinking

Framed with Older = OtherSeniors bring a lifetime of skills and experience to the workplace, and they’re self-motivated with little need for constant supervision. As our society increasingly grows older, due to the massive Baby Boomer generation, organizations will increasingly see more seniors seeking employment. As employers, we can certainly benefit from their maturity and experience, even if a little accommodation is necessary. We need to be flexible and respect their desire to limit hours of employment. We should accommodate their medical visits and requests for time off to attend a grandchild’s school event or recital. Doing so can boost employee loyalty and retention among older adults.

Framed with Older = OtherSeniors bring a lifetime of skills and experience to the workplace, and they’re self-motivated with little need for constant supervision. As our society increasingly grows older, due to the massive Baby Boomer generation, organizations will increasingly see more seniors seeking employment. As employers, we can certainly benefit from their maturity and experience, even if a little accommodation is necessary. We need to be flexible and respect their desire to limit hours of employment. We should accommodate their medical visits and requests for time off to attend a grandchild’s school event or recital. Doing so can boost employee loyalty and retention among older adults.

Our society is increasingly growing older, and we need innovative approaches to ensure that all of us can continue to contribute as we age, especially in the workplace. Older people bring a lifetime of skills and experience to the workplace, as well as self-motivation and an ability to work independently. Employers who implement inventive and creative workplace policies are more likely to reap the benefits of older workers’ maturity and experience. Offering flexible schedules for medical visits and family events like a grandchild’s recital, for example, can boost employee loyalty and retention among older adults.

Reframed with Ingenuity

Framed with Older = OtherSeniors bring a lifetime of skills and experience to the workplace, and they’re self-motivated with little need for constant supervision. As our society increasingly grows older, due to the massive Baby Boomer generation, organizations will increasingly see more seniors seeking employment. As employers, we can certainly benefit from their maturity and experience, even if a little accommodation is necessary. We need to be flexible and respect their desire to limit hours of employment. We should accommodate their medical visits and requests for time off to attend a grandchild’s school event or recital. Doing so can boost employee loyalty and retention among older adults.

Our society is increasingly growing older, and we need innovative approaches to ensure that all of us can continue to contribute as we age, especially in the workplace. Older people bring a lifetime of skills and experience to the workplace, as well as self-motivation and an ability to work independently. Employers who implement inventive and creative workplace policies are more likely to reap the benefits of older workers’ maturity and experience. Offering flexible schedules for medical visits and family events like a grandchild’s recital, for example, can boost employee loyalty and retention among older adults.

Reframed with Ingenuity

Recommendation 2:Add explanation to boost understanding

Makes something that is hard to understand easier to understand, by comparing it to something concrete and familiar

The Explanatory Metaphor

Makes something that is hard to understand easier to understand, by comparing it to something concrete and familiar

The Explanatory Metaphor

Brain Development Building/Architecture

≈

Brain Architecture

Redirect away from:

Move thinking towards: • Aging as opportunity• Policies support well-being as we age • Collective benefits accrue when older

people can contribute

• Us versus them• Aging as discrete categories • Decline and deterioration • Aging as a “battle” or “fight”• Dependency

Building Momentum

The story you are telling:As we get older we gather momentum, which powers us to take up new ideas and advance toward common goals. This energy powers up our society and helps move our communities forward.

People thinking and talking with Momentum

People thinking and talking with Momentum

Recommendation 3:Focus on solutions

We tested three different inventive solutions

The five C’s of effective solutions stories

• Concrete: specific

• Collective: systemic, shared

• Causal: show process

• Conceivable: feasible

• Credible: disinterested

Cues to clear out of the field’s vocabulary

choiceplanningcontrolresponsibility

struggle battlefight

poolspies

wavestsunamis

“them,” “they”elderly seniors senior citizen

Think of one aging-related issue you talk about frequently. How can you apply these framing strategies -- Ingenuity, Building Momentum, Concrete Solutions -- to your messages about that issue?

Then, as you go through today’s panel sessions, challenge yourself to reframe the way you talk about your work on aging issues. Which words and stories will you choose? And which will you choose to avoid?

Framing ChallengeUsing what you know

In Summary:

Culture complicates: Know before you go

Culture complicates: Know before you go

Understanding is frame-dependent

Culture complicates: Know before you go

Understanding is frame-dependent

Stories stick

Culture complicates: Know before you go

Understanding is frame-dependent

Use values to shift thinking

Stories stick

Culture complicates: Know before you go

Understanding is frame-dependent

Use values to shift thinking

Stories stick

Expand understanding with explanation

Culture complicates: Know before you go

Understanding is frame-dependent

Use values to shift thinking

Stories stick

Expand understanding with explanation

Don’t forget the solutions!

Thank you!

© 2017 FrameWorks InstituteSlides in this presentation were developed by the FrameWorks Institute for individual use and cannot be represented, adapted, or distributed without the express written permission of FrameWorks. All images in this presentation are licensed for the purpose of this presentation only and

may not be reproduced elsewhere.

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You Say ... They Think

Expert/Advocate

AAA BBB

Public

You Say ... They Think

You Say ... They Think

Expert/Advocate

Successful aging is about people improving their diets, starting regular exercise, and decreasing stress. But it’s also about having structures and resources that support these things. We need public policies that provide opportunities for older adults to live healthy and productive lives.

You Say ... They Think

Expert/Advocate

Successful aging is about people improving their diets, starting regular exercise, and decreasing stress. But it’s also about having structures and resources that support these things. We need public policies that provide opportunities for older adults to live healthy and productive lives.

Public

Yep! There are some people who are taking responsibility for their lives and making good choices and others who aren’t. It’s all down to people and their choices. If people would just do the right thing, we wouldn’t have any of these problems.

You Say ... They Think

You Say ... They Think

Expert/Advocate

We have more older people in the US than ever before. The social and economic burdens caused by this silver tsunami will bankrupt families if we don’t take action now to address the challenges of demographic change.

You Say ... They Think

Expert/Advocate

We have more older people in the US than ever before. The social and economic burdens caused by this silver tsunami will bankrupt families if we don’t take action now to address the challenges of demographic change.

Public

It’s really sad to watch people you love get older and sicker, but that’s life. It’s hard, but what can we really do? You just have to hope that family members hang in there and take care of each other.

You Say ... They Think

Building Momentum moves public thinking

Positive Attitude TowardAging

Negative Attitude Toward Aging

Addresses Us Vs. Them

Thinking

*

*

Efficacy

* * * **

**

* *

Building Momentum moves public thinking

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Positive Attitude TowardAging

Negative Attitude Toward Aging

Addresses Us Vs. Them

Thinking

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Efficacy

% C

hang

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*= p <.05

* * * **

**

* *

Building Momentum moves public thinking

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

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Positive Attitude TowardAging

Negative Attitude Toward Aging

Addresses Us Vs. Them

Thinking

*

*

Efficacy

% C

hang

e Vs

. Con

trol

*= p <.05

* * * **

**

* *

Influence diluted, or concentrated?The difference is a shared framing strategy.

As we age, we build momentum. Older people are using that momentum to power up our economy, politics and the arts. 83-year old Ruth Bader Ginsberg is a momentum builder—she took her seat as a Supreme Court Justice at age 60. But right now, we do not have the supports in place to help us realize the power and energy that the 41 million Americans 65 and older can bring. About 15% of the older adults nationally live in poverty, while in Nevada at least 20% live in poverty. Together, we can make sure that all older people have what they need so that that they can contribute all of the energy, power and momentum that comes with aging and move our country forward.

Reframed with MomentumFramed with Crisis and Individualism

Today, there are about 41 million older Americans 65 and older. About 15% of the older adults nationally live in poverty, while in Nevada at least 20% live in poverty and maybe even more. In spite of this fact, the older adult population is growing rapidly and is becoming an increasingly vital part of our country. The contributions they make to our community are varied, deeply rooted, and include influential roles in the nation’s economy, politics, and the arts. For example, 83-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsberg took her seat as a Supreme Court Justice at age 60. Thousands of other older adults are blazing trails in all aspects of American life.

As we age, we build momentum. Older people are using that momentum to power up our economy, politics and the arts. 83-year old Ruth Bader Ginsberg is a momentum builder—she took her seat as a Supreme Court Justice at age 60. But right now, we do not have the supports in place to help us realize the power and energy that the 41 million Americans 65 and older can bring. About 15% of the older adults nationally live in poverty, while in Nevada at least 20% live in poverty. Together, we can make sure that all older people have what they need so that that they can contribute all of the energy, power and momentum that comes with aging and move our country forward.

Reframed with MomentumFramed with Crisis and Individualism

Today, there are about 41 million older Americans 65 and older. About 15% of the older adults nationally live in poverty, while in Nevada at least 20% live in poverty and maybe even more. In spite of this fact, the older adult population is growing rapidly and is becoming an increasingly vital part of our country. The contributions they make to our community are varied, deeply rooted, and include influential roles in the nation’s economy, politics, and the arts. For example, 83-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsberg took her seat as a Supreme Court Justice at age 60. Thousands of other older adults are blazing trails in all aspects of American life.

“”– Deborah Tannen, Framing in Discourse.

New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

“People approach the world not as naïve, blank-slate receptacles who take in stimuli . . . in some independent and objective way, but rather as experienced and sophisticated veterans of perception who have stored their prior experiences as an organized mass. This prior experience then takes the form of expectations about the world, and in the vast majority of cases, the world, being a systematic place, confirms these expectations, saving the individual the trouble of figuring things out anew all the time.”

Opinions as Expectations