Extant research has established that racially-based brawn and brain frames, are commonly incorporated into mediated sports content. Framing theory suggests that these brawn and brain frames should influence audience members’ attitudes and behaviors, but no empirical evidence has yet established causality. In the current pilot experiment (N = 49), exposure to news articles emphasizing the physical or mental attributes of an athlete results in subsequent observed in-game behaviors that are more physical or mental in nature, respectively. Moreover, observed behaviors are found to reify character judgments of target athletes as being more athletic or more intelligent. Post-hoc mediation analysis also found observed in-game behaviors mediated the association between frame exposure and resultant physical-type character judgments, but only for judgments of an athlete’s physical abilities. Mental-type character judgments were predicted by mere exposure to brain-type frames.
Citation: Cranmer, G., Bowman, N. D., & Goldman, Z. (2013, June).“Big run, or smart Gun”: How racially-based sports frames influence subsequent audience behaviors and attitudes of audiences towards athletes. Paper submitted to conference. Paper to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association, London.
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“Big run, or smart Gun”: How racially-based sports frames influence subsequent audience behaviors and attitudes towards athletes
1. “BIG RUN, OR SMART GUN”:
HOW RACIALLY-BASED SPORTS
FRAMES INFLUENCE SUBSEQUENT
AUDIENCE BEHAVIORS AND ATTITUDES
TOWARDS ATHLETES
Gregory A. Cranmer
Nicholas D. Bowman
Zac W. Goldman
2. BACKGROUND
RGIII was „the
next physical
specimen‟, never
mind his 3.67 GPA
and eight
consecutive Honor
Roll appointments
while at Baylor
Andrew Luck was
often characterized
as the “Stanford
Man” –
smart, leader of
men – despite his
amazing physical
talents
Cranmer, G., Bowman, N. D., Chory, R., & Weber. K. (in press).Color-Blind: Race as an
Antecedent Condition in Brawn and Brain Framing of Heisman Finalists in Newspaper
Coverage. Manuscript forthcoming in Howard Journal of Communications.
3. PURPOSE
• Past work (Cranmer et al, in press) shows the
prevalence of the “White Brain” and “Black
Brawn” frame in print coverage
• This study seeks to examine the influence
these frames on audience members‟
behaviors and character judgments regarding
athletes.
4. THEORETICAL LENS
• framing theory (Goffman, 1974)
– [Selection of] “some aspects of a
perceived reality [that] make them
more salient … in such a way as
to promote a particular [stance]”
– Effects are explicitly
suggested, rarely tested (politics
exempt)
– D‟Angelo (2002) called for
examinations of frames effects on
audience members
5. LITERATURE
• Mediated sports coverage
commonly features racially biased
frames
– White athletes Smart, “Brainy”
– Black athletes Athletic,
“Brawny”
• Roots (at least in US) in (erroneous)
discussions of slavery, genetics
• Past work is content analytic
– content ≠ effect
The black is a better athlete
to begin with because he's
been bred to be that
way, because of his high
thighs and big thighs that
goes up into his back, and
they can jump higher and
run faster because of their
bigger thighs and he's bred
to be the better athlete
because this goes back all
the way to the Civil War
when during the slave trade
… the slave owner would
breed his big black to his
big woman so that he
could have a big black kid
…
6. HYPOTHESES
• H1a: Frame type will influence observed
behaviors in a video game to be more
brawn-type or brawn-type (respectively).
• H1b: Athlete race will influence observed
behaviors in a video game to be more
brawn-type or brain-type.
7. HYPOTHESES
• Individuals who play the video game…
• H2b: with more brawn-type orientation will
make more positive character judgments
about the target athlete‟s physical abilities.
• H2b: with a more brain-type orientation will
make more positive character judgments
about the targets athlete‟s mental abilities.
9. DESIGN
• 4 Conditions (2 x 2)
– Frame (Brawn/Brain)
– Athlete Race (Black/White)
• Identical characters (w/ exception of race)
• Identical contexts for each play
(stadium, team, location on field, direction
facing, weather, distance from endzone)
• Identical and balanced playbooks (70 plays
[35 QB running, 35 passing], same number
of runs/pass per formation as well)
10. MEASUREMENTVARIABLES
• DVs:
– Behavior (10 plays in NCAA Football)
• Passing bias, M = +1.63, SD = 4.08
– Character Judgments (two 5-item, 7-point Likert-type
scales: Brawn, M = 4.29, SD = 1.22; Brain, M = 5.99, SD =
.964, r = .056)
• Control Variables:
– Hours spent consuming sports media (M = 9.08, SD =
12.9)
– Previous experience with game ~ 3:10 weekly
11. MANIPULATION CHECK
• Frame salience indicated
that audience members
accurately perceived
the brain/brawn
manipulation ( 2(49) =
37.1, p < .001)
15. IMPLICATIONS
• Influence of frames
– Frames appear to be driving the observed
effects, particular for brain coverage
– These frames are apparent in „real world‟
coverage of sports
16. IMPLICATIONS
• Behaviors (gameplay) were more predictive
of character judgment than the manipulation
(article)
– Reification?
– Audience building their own frame to interpret
through (Scheufele, 1999)
17. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
• Frame effects
– Audience members‟ perceptions and behaviors
regarding minority athletes or minorities in general
• Influence on Sports Culture
– coaching, educational
expectations, sponsorship, advertisements, revenue,
and growth,
• Larger Society
– reinforce, shape/influence culture
18. FOR MORE INFORMATION
Gregory A. Cranmer
Ph.D. Student
Gcranmer@mix.wvu.edu
P.O. Box 6293
West Virginia University
Morgantown WV, 26506
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