ISSUE FRAMES AND GROUP-CENTRISM IN AMERICAN PUBLIC-OPINION

Public opinion on government policy is group-centric: that is, strongl y influenced by the attitudes citizens possess toward the social group s perceived as the beneficiaries of the policy. Though commonplace, th is mode of political thinking is not inevitable. In four experiments, we show that group-centrism hinges in part on how issues are framed in public debate. When issues are framed in ways that draw attention to a policy's beneficiaries, group-centrism increases; when issues are fr amed in ways that deflect attention away from the beneficiaries, group -centrism declines. We conclude by drawing out the implications of the se findings for the concept of frame, considered both as a rhetorical weapon in elites' hands and as a cognitive structure in citizens' mind s.