Sarge Melanie A, VanDyke Matthew S, King Andy J, White Shawna R
Texas Tech University.
Politics Life Sci. 2015 Spring;34(1):57-72. doi: 10.1017/pls.2015.6.
Hydraulic fracturing (HF) is a focal topic in discussions about domestic energy production, yet the American public is largely unfamiliar and undecided about the practice. This study sheds light on how individuals may come to understand hydraulic fracturing as this unconventional production technology becomes more prominent in the United States. For the study, a thorough search of HF photographs was performed, and a systematic evaluation of 40 images using an online experimental design involving N = 250 participants was conducted. Key indicators of hydraulic fracturing support and beliefs were identified. Participants showed diversity in their support for the practice, with 47 percent expressing low support, 22 percent high support, and 31 percent undecided. Support for HF was positively associated with beliefs that hydraulic fracturing is primarily an economic issue and negatively associated with beliefs that it is an environmental issue. Level of support was also investigated as a perceptual filter that facilitates biased issue perceptions and affective evaluations of economic benefit and environmental cost frames presented in visual content of hydraulic fracturing. Results suggested an interactive relationship between visual framing and level of support, pointing to a substantial barrier to common understanding about the issue that strategic communicators should consider.
水力压裂法（HF）是关于国内能源生产讨论的一个焦点话题，但美国公众对这种做法大多并不熟悉且尚未做出决定。随着这种非常规生产技术在美国变得更加突出，本研究揭示了个人可能如何开始理解水力压裂法。在这项研究中，对水力压裂法的照片进行了全面搜索，并使用涉及N = 250名参与者的在线实验设计对40张图像进行了系统评估。确定了水力压裂法支持度和信念的关键指标。参与者对这种做法的支持程度存在差异，47%的人表示支持度低，22%的人表示支持度高，31%的人未做决定。对水力压裂法的支持与认为水力压裂法主要是一个经济问题的信念呈正相关，与认为它是一个环境问题的信念呈负相关。支持程度还被作为一种感知过滤器进行了研究，这种过滤器会促成对水力压裂法视觉内容中呈现的经济利益和环境成本框架的有偏见的问题认知和情感评估。结果表明视觉框架和支持程度之间存在一种互动关系，这指出了战略传播者应考虑的一个关于该问题达成共识的重大障碍。
