Framing

Using frames to organize information regarding September 11 in our minds helps us to understand and make sense of the events that occurred.

As Irving Goffman says, we categorize new experiences in to areas that we are familiar with and already know. We use metaphors to draw upon a prior feeling about a specific event in order to react to the new information.

We build invisible ‘frames’ around our experiences and these frames help us to index or categorize the information in our heads. These ‘frames’ can be added to our stretched to accommodate new information or experiences.

An example of how frames form is the theory of social construction. This theory maintains that culture evolves from communication. Also, that our language constructs our reality. It is from our culture and language that we develop and construct these frames.

For instance, looking back on the Oklahoma City bombing one might use their memory of this event to help make sense of what occurred of September 11, 2001. Using the Oklahoma City bombing, one may look for similarities to September 11, in order to decide how to react and how to feel.

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