Affect to Action: Psychological Insights for Digital Activism

Beth Karlin Transformational Media Lab

Center for Unconventional Security Affairs University of California, Irvine

From Affect to Action: Psychological Insights for Social Impact Media

Underlying Assumptions 1.  Technology and new media are changing how people

interact with our natural, built, and social worlds.

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interact with our natural, built, and social worlds. 2.  There are potential opportunities to leverage these

changes for pro-social / pro-environmental benefit.

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interact with our natural, built, and social worlds. 2.  There are potential opportunities to leverage these

changes for pro-social / pro-environmental benefit 3.  A social scientific approach provides a theoretical base

and empirical methodology to study this potential.

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Transformational Media Lab

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1.  Technology and new media are changing how people interact with our natural, built, and social worlds.

2.  There are potential opportunities to leverage these changes for pro-social / pro-environmental benefit

3.  A social scientific approach provides a theoretical base and empirical methodology to study this potential.

Mission: Our lab studies how media is (and can be) used to transform

individuals, communities, and systems.

“We believe that the cinema’s capacity for getting around, for observing and selecting from life itself, can be exploited in a new and vital art form”

John Grierson First Principles of Documentary, 1932

Film for Social Impact


“docu-ganda”

Director as subject

Philanthropic ventures

Theatrical release

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"specific social action campaigns for each film and documentary designed to give a voice to issues that resonate in the films” (Participant Media, 2010)


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A Boundary Object is:

“plastic enough to adapt to local needs, yet robust enough to maintain a common identity”

“different meanings in different social worlds, but structure is common enough to make them recognizable”

“a means of translation”

(Star & Griesemer, 1989)


A Recipe for Success?

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Film Campaign �

Social Impact �

If you build it, will they come?

Film Campaign �

Social Impact �

From Recipes to Models

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Film Campaign �

Social Impact �


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Ingredients Key Activities & Processes Metrics


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Ingredients Key Activities & Processes Metrics

Film Campaign �

Social Impact �

From Dichotomies of Power

1.  Opportunity

2.  Compelling story

3.  Charismatic leaders

4.  Infrastructure

Build on existing theory

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Learn from observation

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And closer investigation

To Develop Models of Change

Storytelling

- Show and Tell

Engagement -Target and Reach

Activism - Involve and Activate

Change -  Measure and Assess

“We often see multiple films on a very similar subject or with a similar social change goal.

Emily Verellen, 2010

The Fledgling Fund

Storytelling

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Storytelling

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Food Films

- Food Inc

- Fresh

- Food Fight

- Ingredients

- Food Matters

- Supersize Me

- The Future of Food

- The Garden

- King Corn

- What's on your plate?

- Deconstructing supper

Water Films - Flow - Blue Gold - Tapped - Thirst - Blue Legacy - Story of Bottled Water - Last Call at the Oasis

Climate Films - Everything's Cool - An Inconvenient Truth - 11th hour - No Impact Man - Collapse - Radically Simple - Blind Spot

Transportation Films - Who Killed the Electric Car? - Revenge of the Electric Car - Fuel - Crude


Within the range of storytelling, some methods truly speak to an audience by sparking real emotions...and others do little more than entertain or inform.”

Emily Verellen, 2010

The Fledgling Fund

Storytelling

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 Our Goal: Investigate the use of psychological principles in film to better understand how narrative, framing, and editing strategies can impact response.

 Our Approach:  Phase 1: Theory Development  Phase 2: Content Analysis  Phase 3: Testing Impacts

Affect to Action Project

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1.  Read lots of psychology 2.  Watch lots of movies 3.  Look for patterns 4.  Develop coding sheet

Methodology

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Affect to Action Framework 1.   Establish relevance to increase level of involvement

2.   Elicit emotion to create receptivity

3.   Educate wisely to increase awareness

4.   Evoke morals to create an imperative

5.   Empower audiences to engage behavior

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Psychological Distance

–  Spatial

–  Temporal

–  Social

–  Hypothetical

Information that is HERE and NOW given to ME with HIGH CERTAINTY reduces distance.

(Trope & Liberman, 2010)

Construal Level Theory

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  First-person narrative

  Identifiable victim

  Show impacts on viewer

  Address the viewer directly

  Zooming in and out

Establish Relevance

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Elicit Emotion

www.cred.columbia.edu B. Karlin, 2012

Elicit Emotion

  Charge your words.

  Show reactions (faces).

  Experiment with sound tempo and camera angles/styles

Elicit Emotion

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Educate Wisely Presentation of information in a way that encourages certain interpretations & discourages others.

“There is no value neutral way of presenting people with information.” - Elke Weber, APA 2012

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Ariely, D. (2009)

16%

0%

84%

Educate Wisely

Ariely, D. (2009)

16%

0%

84%

68%

32%

Educate Wisely

Educate Wisely

  Make it tangible.

  Give examples.

  Frame in terms of losses, rather than gains.

  Use comparisons wisely.

  Convey the right social norms.

Educate Wisely

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Evoke Morals

B. Karlin Five Moral Foundations, Haidt et al.

Evoke Morals

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  Don’t be afraid to take a stand and engage moral arguments.

  Incorporate sanctity and purity into discussion of climate.

  Use a variety of opinion leaders and authority figures.

Evoke Morals

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Perceive Appraise Respond

•  Threat appraisal

•  Coping appraisal

Empower Audiences

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  Threat Appraisal

 Threat Severity (How bad is it?)

 Threat Vulnerability (Can it happen to me?)

  Coping Appraisal

 Behavioral Efficacy (Can I do something?)

 Response Efficacy (Will it matter?)

Empower Audiences

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Empower Audiences

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Empower Audiences

“Not every member must contribute, but all must believe they are free to contribute when ready & that what they contribute will be appropriately valued.”

Henry Jenkins

  What has been done

  What can be done

  What are you doing

  What can the viewer do

  How do they do it

  Can they do it with you?

Empower Audience

  Be specific

  Connect action to outcome

  Ask people to help

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There are benefits to simplicity…

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But it’s not always that easy…

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Beth Karlin Transformational Media Lab

Center for Unconventional Security Affairs University of California, Irvine

Thank You!

Affect to Action: Psychological Insights for Digital Activism

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