Effects of entertainment media framing on support for gay rights in China: Mechanisms of attribution and value framing

Abstract

This study investigates the framing effects of gay-themed entertainment media in China. Specifically, the study explores the mechanisms underlying attribution framing and value framing, through two separate experiments. The results of the first experiment indicate that exposure to attribution frames had considerable influence on the participants’ perceptions of the controllability of homosexuality and their emotional responses. In addition, fictional entertainment media’s framing of the origin of homosexuality indirectly influenced the participants’ opinion through anger. Those participants exposed to a program homosexuality as a type of ‘controllable’ sexuality were likely to express anger and thus were not likely to support gay rights. The results of the second experiment indicate that the core values reflected in a gay-themed program affected the participants’ opinions by changing their perception of the importance of value-related beliefs. Those participants exposed to a frame reflecting family values were likely to consider beliefs about family values to be important, which facilitated their support for gay people’s personal dignity and equal rights to jobs, housing, and freedom of expression, among others.