Effects of Norms Framing on Perceptions of Federal Science Funding Cuts
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The primary aims of the study are to investigate how different message framing strategies, focusing on social norms or historical government funding, may differentially influence outcomes such as approval/disapproval of federal science funding cuts and intentions to take action to oppose the cuts (e.g., by contacting congressional representatives, sharing information, or starting conversations). We expect that relative to a Control message, exposure to intervention messages that frame federal science funding as socially normative will decrease approval of the cuts and increase self-reported knowledge and action intentions. We expect that message framing conditions will vary as a function of partisanship (i.e., nonpartisan, or (bi)partisan), norm type (social approval or historical federal spending), and format (quiz or text only). We expect that different message framing conditions will have varying levels of effectiveness depending on these factors and may also be moderated by political ideology.
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7171865488