How the Effects of Emphasizing Ethics are Examined: A Systematic Review of Moral Framing Experiments

Whether and when moral frames (de)polarize society is a matter of scholarly debate. To identify key research priorities for advancing our understanding of moral framing effects, a systematic review of 114 experiments was conducted. The study explored the use of important theoretical and methodological approaches and compared them between studies belonging to the most salient communication fields in experimental moral framing research. Based on the results, this paper advocates for more attention in moral framing experiments to (a) definitions of the term ‘moral’, (b) differences in frame valence (i.e. moral obligations vs. violations), (c) diverse outcomes that capture distinct types of polarization (i.e. cognitive, affective, perceived), (d) visual and multimodal manipulations, and (e) the choice of non-moral control group(s).