EMOTIONAL FRAMING IN NEWS DISCOURSE AND ITS IMPACT ON PANIC REACTIONS: A PSYCHOLINGUISTIC STUDY

Abstract

The increasing impact of contemporary media discourse on the psycho-emotional state of society in conditions of social uncertainty necessitates a deeper examination of the mechanisms through which panic responses are formed in audiences. The present study seeks to empirically investigate the effects of emotional framing in news texts on recipients’ panic reactions from a psycholinguistic standpoint, focusing on differences in emotional responses to messages characterized by varying degrees of linguistic emotional intensification. The experimental design involved a comparison of three framing types: threat-based uncertainty framing, factual-descriptive framing, and regulatory framing aimed at restoring a sense of control. Statistical analysis demonstrated significant differences in panic affective activation across the groups (F(2, 57) = 18.32; p < 0.001). The highest levels of panic activation were associated with threat-based uncertainty frames, whereas the lowest values were observed in the regulatory framing condition. Component-level analysis revealed that bodily tension and fear intensity were the most sensitive indicators of linguistic uncertainty. Gender-related differences were identified in patterns of cognitive-affective responsiveness to regulatory linguistic strategies. The findings substantiate the systemic influence of psycholinguistic structuring of news discourse on the formation of audience panic reactions and outline promising directions for further research into media-induced emotional processes.