Presentation for talk given at Cognitive Futures conference on 6 April 2013. http://www.bangor.ac.uk/cognitive-humanities/

1. Frames, scripts, scenarios,
models, spaces and other
animals:
Bridging conceptual divides between the
cognitive, social and computational
Dominik Lukeš, @techczech
http://metaphorhacker.net

2. Caveats

3. Avoid reduction through
redescription. I.e. Don’t call
things in other disciplines a
frame and claim to have solved
their problems.

4. Differentiate between
hermeneutics and heuristics.
I.e. principles of understanding
are distinct from methods of
arriving at that understanding.

5. What is a frame?

6. “Structure of expectation” Tannen,
1993
“frames are basic cognitive
structures which guide the
perception and representation of
reality”
Interpretation of Goffman
http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/methods/publications/frameanaly
sis/

7. Mostly overlapping
concepts

8. Frame (Goffman, Lakoff, Schon)
Idealized Cognitive Model
(Lakoff)
Mental Model (cognitive
pscyhologists)
Mental Space (Fauconnier)
World (text world, possible world) -
(Werth)

9. Partially overlapping
concepts

10. Schema
Script
Scenario
Domain
Footing (Goffman)
Prototype (psychology)
Exemplar (phonology)
Presupposition
Metaphor (Outward bound)
Gestalt (psychology)
Construct (as in constructivist psychology)
Case (as in "case-based reasoning")
Stereotype
Perspective
Ability to see something in a ____ way

11. Concepts relying on
something like a frame

12. Discourse (as in "dominant discourses")
Narrative (as in "prevailing narrative", "fit into a narrative")
Family resemblance
Episodic memory
Priming
Identity
Cognitive dissonance
Contestation
Construction
Historical memory
Folk theory
Theory
Paradigm
Metanarrative
Foucault's archeology of the mind
Culture
Grammar (as in “grammar of schooling”)
Archetype (psychology)
Persuasion
Prejudices
The Other
Historical Imagination
Myth
Role model

13. Disciplines using
frame-like concepts

14. Artificial Intelligence
Ethnography/Anthropology
Art history
Cognitive psychology
Social psychology
Linguistics
Sociology
History of science
Therapeutic psychology
Logic
Political theory
Behavioral economics
Media theory

15. Rhetoric
Law
Pedagogy
Organization studies
Policy studies

16. What is a frame?

17. Fundamental non-atomic
element of mental, social,
emotional and physical action
susceptible to mental
operations similar to those
intuitively described as
reasoning.

18. Fundamental basic-level unit of
mental representation.
Both conscious and
unconscious.

19. What does a frame
look like?

20. Idealized Cognitive Model is not
a bad start.
Enriched by episodic memory,
discursive psychology, social
anthropology, and corpus
linguistics

21. Propositional aspects
Image aspects
Figurative aspects
Meronymic aspects
Metacognitive aspects

22. Definitions
Narratives
Rich images
Image schemas
Metaphors
Analogies
Collocations
Links to related concepts
Awareness of social links

23. What does a frame do
as part of reasoning?

24. Something like blending theory
is a good start but needs input
from discursive psychology and
social psychology.

25. What does a frame do
as part of human
action?

26. Construction grammar is a good
start.
Frames are the semantic poles
of meaning/form links in
symbolic units.

27. What is missing from
most frame theories?

28. Notion of an inventory of frames
and inventory only properties
Hypostasis and negotiation
(frame negotiation)
Social as well as psychological
dimension
Variation in accessibility
Acquisition

29. Examples of framing
and frame analysis

30. Since 2002, it has been the official practice
at Fox News to refer to attacks like the one
at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport this
week, in which a bomber blows himself up
along with his victims, as “homicide
bombings.” In adopting the terminology,
Fox took its cues from the Bush White
House, which felt the more commonly used
“suicide bombings” gave undue
attention to the fate of the bomber.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2011/01/26/fox-news-cant-keep-its-made-up-propaganda-words-straight/

31. bombing
Killing of people. Done at a
distance. Unlawful connotation
unless by military.
suicide
Killing of self. Usually in private
by individual means. For
personal reason. Connotations
of sadness and grief.

32. suicide bombing
Killing of people. Done by an
individual carrying a bomb. Likely
to die in the attack. Associated with
people belonging to movements.
Negative connotations.
Associated with discursive
practices not inherited from those
of suicide. The homicide aspect of
bombing takes over.

33. homicide bombing
Removes explicitly possibility of
recovering frame aspects
(discursive practices) blended
away in suicide bombing.

34. inside the structure of military rhetoric,
a 'suicide mission' occupies a place of
honor: to sacrifice one's life for the
cause is regarded as noble, by the
partisans of 'war.' Think of the Alamo,
or the 300...
A suicide bomber partakes in some of
the "Lost Cause" nobility.
Whereas a "homicide" bomber may
(must?) be regarded merely as a
murderous psychopath. There is no
chance that the act could be thought
"noble." A "homicide" bomber cannot
be a martyr...
http://thewell-armedlamb.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/homicide-
bomber-vs-suicide-bomber-whats.html

35. What knowledge is required to
make sense of frame blends?

36. I teach civil war
I teach public policy
I teach French
I teach shooting
I teach guns

37. What is the nature of
knowledge necessary to
interpret framing.

39. fruit dumplings
meat dumplings
bread dumplings
potato dumplings
cheese-curd dumplings
hairy dumplings

41. Interplay of propositional
knowledge, force dynamics,
scale schemas, rich images.

42. The Normans conquered Britain
The Browns conquered Britain
The Beatles conquered Britain

43. Nazi Holocaust
Jewish Holocaust
Hungarian Holocaust
Spanish Holocaust

44. I drink too much, last time I
gave a urine sample, it had an
olive in it.
Rodney Dangerfield

45. I learned this summer that
peeing in the pool and peeing
INTO the pool are very different
things.
Demetri Martin

46. Conclusion: Why are
frames useful?

47. Non-reductionist analysis of
issues in the humanities

48. Remind us what else to look for
in the conceptualizations. E.g.
schemas have associated rich
images, narratives, and
propositional content.

49. Prevent debates about
questions assuming traditional
concepts requiring logical
operations are at play. For
instance definitions.

50. Further research
needed?

51. Cognitive psychology of framing
Memory of frames
Priming
Habituation and embodiment
Individual variation
Frame negotiation