10 Framing Effects Examples in Real Life

Framing Effect Examples

What is the Framing Effect?

The framing effect refers to a cognitive bias that impacts the decision-making ability of the people. Due to the framing effect, the decisions made by the people are influenced by how the information or a thing is framed or presented to them, i.e., an individual is more likely to choose the option which is presented to him/her as gain than the option which is presented to him/her as a loss even if both the options have the same meaning or lead to the same outcome. For example, you want to buy a honey bottle and you see two honey bottles with different taglines at the grocery store. Bottle A says “Contains 10% sugar” and bottle B says “90% sugar-free.” Which one will you pick? Even if both the taglines mean the same thing, bottle B may seem more appealing and a healthy option to you than bottle A, i.e., you are more likely to choose bottle B under the influence of the framing effect. In this article, we’ll discuss the various factors related to the framing effect such as types, prospect theory, framing effect experiments and various real-life examples of the framing effect.

What is Heuristics?

The process of decision making involves a lot of cognitive efforts. Due to the limitations of the working memory, rational decision making can become tedious. To avoid the complexity, the human brain tends to take shortcuts to arrive at the conclusion. The tendency of the human brain to automatically take these shortcuts is known as heuristics. Heuristics is considered one of the primary factors that lead to the framing effect. These shortcuts generally help in making the decision quickly but they can also result in making bad decisions. For example, we tend to bias toward the positive frames, i.e., we would be more likely to attract by the ’90 per cent chance of survival’ than considering that the 10 per cent chance of death, is also there. Researchers claim that our hidden desires, beliefs and some cognitive biases, which are based on our previous experiences and the surroundings, lead to heuristics. The primary point of concern about the heuristics is that the people fail to identify that the decisions are influenced by the ‘heuristics’.

According to John S. Hammond, a professor at Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts,

Sometimes the fault lies not in the decision-making process but rather in the mind of the decision maker.”

Heuristics

Prospect Theory

To understand the framing effect, we need to understand the prospect theory first. Prospect theory refers to a psychological theory of decision making developed by the psychologist Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in 1979 (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). According to the Prospect theory, humans tend to be more sensitive to losing anything than gaining something, i.e., people are more cautious of risks than the excitement of gains. People tend to avoid the choices which are presented as equal chances of losing and gaining because people tend to feel the fear of the loss more than the happiness of gaining something. The main factor of the framing effect is that the outcome of both the given options is the same. This means it does not matter which options the person has selected the result of both the options would be the same, but as the information is presented differently, we tend to choose the options that seem to us to gain. For example, you are given two options. Option A offers a gain of 50 dollars, and option B offers 100 dollars but a loss of 50 dollars. Both option A and option B result in the gain of 50 dollars, but we tend to choose option A because it is framed favourably as the loss is not presented in this option.

Prospect Theory

Types of Framing

Broadly, there are four types of framing, i.e., auditory frame, visual frame, values frame, and positive & negative frames. Let us discuss these types below.

1. Auditory Frame

The auditory frame refers to the different styles of tones (e.g., politely, shouting, aggressive) that the person uses to present the information to the people. For example, you went shopping and you see two vendors selling the same product. Vendor A calmly and without any enthusiasm says that his shop offers the best quality product, while vendor B confidently and with full enthusiasm says the same thing. Which vendor would you choose to buy the product from? Like most of us, you are more likely to buy the product from vendor B because you’ll feel that the product surely must be of great quality as the vendor is speaking confidently. This shows how the voice inflexions or we can say auditory frame impacts the decisions of people.

Say Please GIFs | Tenor

2. Visual Frames

It refers to presenting the information in different visuals to the people such as different images, colours, font styles, or font sizes. Following are the different types of visual frames.

i. Colour

Different colours impact people in a different ways. For example, the pink colour is considered to give a more feminine feel, so it would be a great idea to use the pink colour in advertisements or marketing to promote the women’s clothing, while it won’t be that appealing if we use the pink colour to promote the men’s clothing. You must have observed, that various brands make different products such as purses, perfume bottles, and cosmetic packaging of the pink colour to make them more appealing to the women to rise the product sales. If a woman is asked to choose one out of the two boxes given that box A is grey and box B is of pink colour, she is more likely to choose box B. This is how the visual framing works. Even if the products are the same but if they are presented in different colours it can impact the decision of the person. Consider cars for example. You must have seen that people usually buy cars in the colour black, white, or similar shades. Cars in other colours are rarely seen on the roads. Car manufacturers usually manufacture the cars in general neutral colours because if they manufacture the products in different shades they may lose a lot of customers. Even if the product quality of both the cars say a red car or yellow car is the same people’s choice is largely influenced by the colour of the car too.

Colour Framing Manipulation

ii. Font Style and Font Size

You may not have noticed this thing, but the size and the style of the fronts also impact our decisions. Just a little variation in the font style and size can result in different responses. Look at the image below, you can see that the same thing is written four times but in a different style. As you can see the font style of the first line and the last line does not seem legible. If the marketers will use these types of font styles it won’t attract the customer’s attention because nobody will bother to read anything written in small and illegible fonts. On the other hand, if you see anything written in a big, bold, and legible manner it will automatically grab your attention. This is the reason marketers use big hoardings to grab the attention of potential customers. Most companies use this type of framing effect to fool the customers. For example, the drawbacks of the products and the company-friendly rules and policies are written in small and illegible fonts so that customers ignore reading this and buy the product. So, the next time you buy something tries to not fall victim to the framing effect, and read the information mentioned in small fonts.

Framing Manipulation with Different Font Style or Font Size

iii. Body Language

One can not deny the impact of body language factors such as smiles, facial expressions, or hand gestures in communication. Even if we are saying the same thing two times, if our body language is different both times, it can result in different responses. For example, if someone asks you for help with his/her arms crossed and eyebrows raised, you are more likely to say no, but if someone asks you for help politely with joined hands you are more likely to help that person. Although both the person had used the same words the body language or we can say influence of the visual framing effect leads you to make different decisions. You must have observed that you tend to buy products from the salesperson who is warm and polite rather than the one who does not pay much attention to the customer’s needs.

Polite GIFs | Tenor

3. Value Frames

Value frames involve the use of various psychological techniques that make people feel that they are getting a better deal than they really are. For example, people tend to view high value as a better deal. For example, suppose you went to the shopping mall and you see the product you want is on sale in two different shops. Shop A says “20 per cent off” and shop B says “120 dollars off” provided both the discounts cost you the same. Which one will your choose? If you chose option B, then like most of us you also fell victim to the framing effect. Although both the shops giving you the same discount but the way information is presented in front of you triggered your decision making. Most of the retailers present the discounts as mentioned by shop B as it appeals to the customer more. This strategy is also popular by the name ‘the rule of 100.’ This means that any item that costs less than 100 dollars seems more appealing in terms of percentage; for example, if a product cost 10 dollars then the 10 per cent off would look more appealing than the 1 dollar off. On the other hand, if the product cost 500 dollars, then 50 dollars off would lure more potential customers than the 10 per cent off. There also exists the positive or the negative value frames that one can use to present the same information in different ways. Consider two statements ‘there are 90 per cent chances that the person will die if operated,’ and ‘there are 10 per cent chances that the person will survive if operated.’ Although both the statements describe the same information, the second statement seems more positive than the first one.

Value Framing Manipulation

4. Positive and Negative Frames

You must have heard of the famous example of the positive and the negative frames, which is whether the glass is half-filled or half-empty. Marketers use the positive and negative frames to trick people and make a profit. You must have seen taglines like ‘Last chances to save,’ ‘Don’t miss it,’ or ‘only a few items left’ this tagline makes people feel anxious that if they won’t buy now they will lose the great deals. As we have discussed above in this article in the prospect theory that people are more cautious of the risks than the excitement of the gains. So people tend to take actions (shopping) that reduce the fear of losing something. Marketers make use of the negative frames to create a situation of urgency, which influence the customers to shop more.

Positive frames are used where the subject needs to be convinced. For example, a patient is more likely to agree to the operation if you say to him/her that there are 90% chances of his/her survival after the operation than if you say that there are 10% chances of his/her survival after the operation. Some marketers make use of both the negative and the positive frames to raise sales. For example, ‘consuming honey is good for health (positive frame),’ ‘sugar is bad for health (negative frame),’ and ‘we offer honey which contains zero percentage of honey (positive frame).’ This shows how the potential customers are targeted by using the positive and the negative frames. In this example, first, they raised the problem by giving the negative frame then they gave the solution by using the positive frame that influence people to buy the product.

Positive and Negative Framing Manipulation

Examples of Positive and Negative Frames

1. Medical Treatment
  • Positive Frame- You will survive if you take this medical treatment.
  • Negative Frame- You will Die if you won’t take this medical treatment.
2. Negotiation
  • Positive Frame- This deal will give you a huge profit.
  • Negative Frame- You will lose the chance to get a huge profit if you say no to this deal.
3. Sports
  • Positive Frame- Team X managed to make its place in the top 5 best teams.
  • Negative Frame- Out of the top 5 best teams, Team X is the worst team.
4. Politics
  • Positive Frame- This time we managed to win more seats than the last time.
  • Negative Frame- We only managed to win 5 seats out of the 40 seats in the elections.

Framing Effect Experiments

Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman Experiments

Psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman conducted a study in 1981 to analyse how people’s responses get influenced if the same information is presented to them in different styles (Tversky & Kahneman, 1981). In this study, the participants were provided with differently phrased hypothetical situations. Let us understand it with an example of one such situation, the participants were told that 600 people suffering from fatal diseases and they have to choose one of the two given options for their treatment. The first option may risk the life of 400 people, and in the second option, the probability that everyone dies was 66% and the likelihood that no one dies was 33%. Both of these options were presented to the subjects in the negative framing, i.e., the number of deaths that would happen or the positive framing, i.e., the number of lives that can be saved. The findings of the study revealed that 72% of the participants selected the first option when the statement was positively framed, i.e., the treatment can save the life of 200 people. On the other hand, only 22% of the total participants selected the first option when it was negatively framed, i.e., it can risk the life of 400 people. This represents that the option that the subject will choose not only depends upon what information is given but also depend upon the way the information is presented to the subjects, which is in accordance with the framing effect.

Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman Experiments

In another experiment conducted by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, some insurance professionals were blamed for reducing the value of the cargo loss of the 3 insured barges that sank on the coast of Alaska. Each barge consisted the cargo worth 2 million dollars, which would be lost if not saved within 72 hours. Two options that cost the same, were provided to the respondents in different frames.

  • Option A: This option would save the cargo of any one of the three barges, i.e., 2 million dollars can be saved.
  • Option B: This option is likely to save one-third of the cargo of all the three barges worth 6 million dollars, but there is a two-thirds possibility that nothing would be saved, i.e., 2 million dollars can be lost.

The findings revealed that  71% of subjects opted for the option A which seemed less risky to them.

Tversky and Kahneman conducted a similar experiment on different subjects (other insurance professionals) but different options were provided to them.

  • Option C: This option may result in the loss of two out of the three cargos, i.e., 4 million dollars can be lost.
  • Option D: In this option, there is a two-thirds of possibility that all the cargo would be lost, but there is a one-third possibility that all the cargo would be saved, i.e., cargo worth 6 million dollars can be saved.

Contrary to the previous options, 80 per cent of the subjects preferred option D. Though this option is equivalent to option B, it only differs in the way it is presented to the subjects. Option B represents the negative frame (loss of 2 million dollars), while option D represents the positive frame (gain of 6 million dollars). As suggested by the researchers also people are more concerned about the fear of the loss than the excitement of the gain. The findings of this experiment show that people are more likely to avoid the risk when they are presented with the ‘gain value’ while they seek risk when presented with the ‘loss value.’

Framing Manipulation using Different Reference Points

John S. Hammond used the following example to explain the framing effect by using different reference points while presenting the options.

Suppose you have 2000 dollars in your account. You have the following two offers,

  • Option A:  You have an equal probability of either losing 300 dollars from your account or winning 500 dollars in your account.
  • Option B: You have an equal probability of either losing 1700 dollars from your account or gaining 2500 dollars in your account.

Which option would you choose? Although there are equal chances of losing and gaining in both options, it is seen that most people prefer option B. This happens because people’s decisions got influenced by the framing effect. The framing effect activates the contracts bias of the mind (a mental shortcut) that makes people perceive option B as more profitable ($2500-$1700=$800) than option A ($500-$300=$200). People prefer option B as they seek high profit. This shows how the framing effect influences the decision of the people when the same plan is framed in a different manner.

Winning Or Losing Competition GIF - Winning Or Losing Competition Competitive - Discover & Share GIFs

Impact of Framing Effect on Economists

A natural field experiment was conducted by the researchers Simon Gachter, Elke Renner, Henrik Orzen, and Chris Starmer in 2009 on a group of economists to analyse the impact of framing effect on them. To analyse how the framing of the information impacts the economist’s decisions they were divided into two groups. The first group was told about the payment information in a positive frame (they will get the discount), while the same information was presented to the second group in the negative frame (they will be charged with the late penalty). The findings of this experiment revealed that the junior economists fell victim to the framing effect while the senior economists did not.

Foreign Language Impact on Framing Effect

You might be thinking that there won’t be a significant impact on the framing effect if we use a foreign language or maybe the framing effect might amplify because of the increase in the difficulty of the subjects to grasp the foreign language. However, various studies reveal something different. A study was conducted by researchers Keyser, and Hayakawa in 2012 to analyse the impact on framing the language of we use the framing language. The finding of this study revealed that when a foreign language has been used, the subjects were less likely to fall victim to this decision-making bias. On the other hand, when the options were framed in the native language they easily fell victim to the framing effect. This study reveals that the people become more conscious and they become able to interpret the framing manipulation of the foreign language.

Foreignlanguage GIFs | Tenor

Framing Effects Examples in Real Life

1. Disinfectant Shopping

Suppose you went to a shop to buy a bottle of disinfectant for your home. You see two bottles of disinfectant in the shop, the first bottle claims that ‘it kills 99 per cent of germs,’ while the second bottle claims that only ‘1 per cent of germs will survive.’ Which one will you pick? Like the majority of us, you’ll also tend to pick the first bottle of disinfectant as the first bottle makes you focus on the positive aspect that it kills 99 per cent of total germs while the second bottle makes you focus on the negative aspect that it won’t be able to kill the 1 per cent of germs.

Disinfectant- Framing Effect Example

2. Meat Packaging

Even if both the meat packages are of the same quality, what’s written on the package of the meat impacts its sales. For example, some studies revealed that people preferred the meat packages on which ‘75% lean meat’ was written to the packages on which ‘25% fat meat’ was written provided both the meats are the same it’s just that they are presented differently. This could be because the higher number appears to more superior to the lower number.

3. Choosing Elective Subject

Suppose you have to choose an elective subject in the final year of your graduation. You are determined to score high grades in your graduation and the choice of elective subject will directly impact your grades. You decide to take suggestions from two professors. Professor A tells you that 30 per cent of the students got an A grade who opted for the subject X last year, while professor B tells your that 70 per cent of the students fail to score an A grade who opted for the subject X last year. The meaning of both the statements as said by the professor A and professor B is the same, but due to the framing effect, the statement given by the professor A will convince you to opt the subject X, but the statement of professor B will make you hesitant to opt the subject X.

4. Vaccine Programmes

Read the following two statements that are logically the same but are framed differently,

Vaccine program X can save the lives of 200 people, and in vaccine program Y the probability of saving the lives of the 600 people is one-third of the total population, i.e., there are two-thirds chances that nobody will be saved.”

Vaccine program X can result in the death of 400 people, and in vaccine program Y the chances that no one dies is one-third of the total population, i.e., there are two-thirds chances that 600 people may die.”

Which Program would you choose in case of both the statements? It is found that the majority of the people tend to choose program X in the first statement, while they are likely to choose program Y in the second statement. Although, both the statements are equivalent, programme X is framed positively in the first statement (focusing on the number of lives that can be saved) while negatively in the second statement (focusing on the number of deaths it can cause). A similar pattern is followed to describe the program Y in both statements.

5. Car Advertisement

The framing effect is largely used in the marketing and the finance sector. Suppose, to advertise the Ford F-150 truck if you use the tagline “22 Miles per Gallon” then you may lose a lot of customers as this figure is significantly low if we compare it with the other cars and basic SUVs. Customers are more likely to consider the amount they have to spend on the gas if they make this purchase. However, if we use the tagline “Best in Class Fuel Economy,” potential customers are likely to fall for this framing manipulation and they tend to make a purchase considering it a good deal.

6. Selling Car

It’s the tendency of the human brain to focus on the information that aligns with the previously stored information or knowledge. It is quite hard for our brains to consider all the possible factors or perspectives about a situation once at a time. Let us understand with an example, suppose you want to buy a car then there are a number of factors that one needs to look at such as price, mileage, design, safety, engine and so on. If the salesperson gives you the information about each factor in detail and lets you decide which car would be best for you, you may end up getting confused. Moreover, this would not be even in favour of the salesperson. Now, if the salesperson presents you the information pointing out the good factors of the car (positive frame) you are more likely to purchase the car. People generally tend to ignore this but their decision whether to purchase the car or not largely depends upon the way the salesperson presents the positive and negative features of the car using framing manipulation.

Car Salesman GIFs | Tenor

7. Plea Bargaining in Court

The influence of the framing effect has also been observed in the legal proceedings. The United State law professor and a Judge, Stephanos Bibas wrote a paper in 2004, describing how the various cognitive bias impacts plea bargains in courts. In this paper, he mentioned that the framing effect strongly influences plea bargaining. According to Stephanos, the defendant tends to refuse the plea bargains because they considered it a ‘loss frame.’ This is because due to the plea bargain the defendants have the risk of losing their freedom as otherwise, they would have been free. Defendants tend to avoid the plea bargain even if they have to face a lesser loss in the plea bargain than the sentence without the plea bargain. Defendants view acquittal as a baseline, and they view anything lower than this as the deal of loss. Bibas suggested that this provides the prosecutors with an advantage because defendants usually expect the gains from the bargaining and the concessions. However, Bibas also suggested that some defendants also see plea bargains as means of gain. Suppose if a defendant has once faced the pretrial detention then he/she tends to view the prison as a baseline and he/she views freedom as a gain. This shows that defendants tend to accept the plea bargain in case of the pre-trial detention and the positive frame (gain frame).

8. Cancer Treatment Preferences

Annette O’Connor, a health science professor conducted a study in 1989 to examine the impact of the framing effect on the decisions of the cancer patients regarding their choice of the treatment. This study consisted of two groups. The first group consisted of 129 healthy subjects, and the second group consists of 154 cancer patients. Both the groups had to choose one of the treatments from the given two options. The first option was more dangerous than the second option. However, the second option was less effective than the first option.

The options were presented to the subjects in different ways. Such as.

  • Positive Frame: Probability of survival
  • Negative Frame: Probability of dying
  • Neutral Frame: Probablity of survival and dying

The finding of the study revealed that when the options were framed negatively, i.e., when the probability of survival was less than 50% the participants tends to avoid the more effective but dangerous treatment. According to O’Connor,

a negative frame or probability level below 0.5 would seem to stimulate a “dying mode” type of value system in which quality of life becomes more salient in decision making than the quantity of life.”

9. Framing Manipulation in Medical

Suppose you are suffering from a disease and you are recommended to have surgery. You are looking for a doctor who can efficiently do your surgery and upon whom you can rely. You see the following two statements about the doctor, which have the same meaning but are framed differently.

Out of the 100 sufferers who underwent this surgery by Doctor X, eighty are still alive after the ten years.

Out of the 100 sufferers who underwent this surgery by Doctor X, twenty sufferers were dead within the ten years.

Out of these two statements, Which option can make you convince to undergo the surgery? Under the influence of the framing effect, you are more likely to agree to the surgery by doctor X if you are presented with the first statement as it is framed positively (focuses on the number of lives saved) while you are more likely to say no to the surgery by doctor X if you are presented with the second statement as it is framed negatively (focuses on the number of people died).

10. Framing Effect in Advertisements

The framing effect is largely used in the advertising sector. Let us understand it with an incident in the early 1900s. Claude C. Hopkins is considered one of the greatest advertisers. A sales manager was facing difficulty in selling a product, i.e., a toilet soap, he approached Hopkins for the marketing strategy. Hopkins analysed the market and he found that all the competitors were selling the toilet soap by using the negative frame. Most of the competitors targeted the problems like blemishes or wrinkles that may occur (according to the marketers) if the consumer will not buy their toilet soap. For example, a competitor named Cashmere Bouquet soap used the following negative frame to market their soap paper,

No girl can afford to riks perspiration odour. Men cannot stand it!”

As all the competitors were using the negative framing, Hopkins decided to use the positive frame. He presented the message in a positive frame as follows,

All the world loves natural beauty. You can gain it in this simple way.. using this product. This product has bought the enticement of fresh clear skin to thousands.”

The competitors were making the customers fear the loss that they may suffer if they won’t purchase their item, while the Hopkins makes the customers focus on the benefits that they can obtain if they purchase the product.

Claude Hopkins

Developmental Factors and Framing Effect

Generally, it is seen that the framing effect tends to get more effective with the age, i.e., adults are more likely to exhibit the framing effect than children. Particularly in the case of the decisions related to health and finances, the age factor does come into play.

Childhood

According to a study conducted by V. Reyna and Frank Farley in 2006, as the children grow the impact of the framing effect on the decisions making ability of the children also grows. For example, the decisions of the preschool children are largely based on the quantitative properties (likelihood of a particular result), while the children in the elementary largely depend upon the qualitative reasoning for decision making, i.e., they tend to choose the option that assures them the gain in case of the positive frame and the risky option that reduce the chances of loss in case of the negative frame.

Adolescent

According to the study conducted by the researchers, JoNell Strough, Tara E. Karns, and Leo Schlosnagle in 2011, the tendency of adolescents to fall victim to the framing effect is higher than that of children, but they are not as susceptible to the framing manipulation as the adults are. According to Albert & Steinberg, adolescents are more likely to choose the risky options in both situations, i.e., whether the situation is presented as a negative frame or in a positive frame. This outcome can be explained by the fact that, unlike adults, adolescents lack real-life experience of the negative outcomes, and they only depend upon the conscious gain-loose analyses which further depend upon the quantitative evaluation. This results in a lesser impact of the framing effect on adults than the adolescents.

Adulthood

Adults are highly susceptible to fell victim to the framing effect than both children and adolescents. For example, A study conducted by Revlin on the undergraduates students in 2012 revealed that students were more likely to choose the meat package that was labelled as ’75 per cent lean meat’ than the package that was labelled as ’25 per cent fat meat’ provided both the labels means the same thing. Another research showed that subjects were more eager to buy an item after they lost the money equivalent to the cost of that item than when they lost the item itself. According to a study published by Ellen Peters, Melissa L. Finucane, and Donald G. MacGregor in 2000, the likelihood of older adults falling victim to the framing effect is more than that of younger adults. Researchers Thomas and Miller explained this phenomenon by suggesting that with ageing, the cognitive capabilities of a person start declining, due to which older adults face difficulty in decision making and they easily fell victim to the framing manipulations than the younger adults. A study conducted on the older adults to analyse their susceptibility to exhibit the framing effect revealed that the decisions of the older adults to choose the best treatment method for them were largely based on the way the options were presented to them by the doctors rather than the actual effectivity of the treatment methods. A study published by Joan T. Erber showed that framing manipulation made the older choose the cancer treatment that offers long-term survival over the short term benefits. Studies revealed that older adults tend to choose the options that are framed positively that the options that are framed neutrally or negatively. A study was conducted by Löckenhoff in 2011 on older adults to evaluate their ability to remember the healthcare-related information mentioned in the pamphlet; the findings of this study revealed that older adults tend to remember the information that is framed positively more precisely than the information that is framed negatively.

How to Avoid the Framing Effect?

After reading about a number of examples of the way the advertisers and marketers use the framing effect to trick the customers, you might be thinking that using framing manipulation is a bad thing. However, one can use the framing effect for their own benefit by framing the difficult tasks in a positive manner. For example, one can trick their brain by saying that ‘only 20 push-ups left’ rather than saying ’20 push-ups still left.’ The phrase ‘only 20 push-ups left’ will motivate you to finish those 20 push-ups while the phrase ’20 push-ups still left’ will make you feel like that that is too much and you are more likely to give up. Although the framing effect can be used for self benefits, anyone can use it to fool or trick you. Following are the certain ways that you can use to avoid the framing effect.

1. Seek Advice

The framing effect can be overcome if we take the advice of other people before making the final judgement. The research was conducted by a professor at the University of Minnesota, James Druckman in 2001 to analyse the impact of advice on the framing effect. To explain how people should make choices when they have different options to choose from, he makes use of the two experiments.

  • The first experiment was based on the Kahneman and Tversky experiment (as discussed above in this article) with a little variation. In which the participants were asked to choose a hypothetical treatment for preventing the lives of 600 people suffering from a fatal disease. The difference here is that one treatment option was recommended by the Republican political party while the second treatment option was recommended by the Democrat political party.
  • In the second experiment, the subjects had to choose from the two hypothetical treatments. Option A suggested the surgery while option B suggested the radiation treatment to cure lung cancer. Participants were presented with these options using the positive and the negative frames. The participants were also provided with the recommendation of the treatment from the medical professional of two prominent hospitals mentioning which options would be the best.

The findings of both the experiments showed that endorsement or the recommendation from a credible source does impact the people’s decisions and their chances of falling victim to the framing effect are reduced or even eliminated in some cases. In other words, the ways the options were presented or framed to the subjects did not impact the subjects when the supporters of the Republicans or the Democratic party realized that their favourite party is favouring a particular option. Similarly, the framing differences had not made any significant changes in the decisions of the participants when they saw that any particular option is recommended by the medical professionals.

2. Reconsider Your Choices

After choosing a particular option out of the given options try to reconsider what are the things that made you choose that option. When you reconsider your choice you are more likely to consider from the different perspectives to cross-check your options. Reconsidering your choice can make you realize that the way the information was presented to you has largely influenced your decisions.

3. Look Beyond the Frame

One should try to make the decisions by framing the given situation in a different way. For example, what would be the opinions of the opposite party regarding the new policy? What would be the opinion of another car salesperson about the car you have decided to buy? What would be your opinion if you were in the situation of the other person? In other words, try to consider the second option before making any final judgement. The opinion that may seem right today due to the influence of the framing effect may be a bad option if you look beyond the framing manipulations.

4. Involvement

Some researchers claim that when people are more involved in any situation they become less likely to fall victim to the framing manipulation associated with that situation. According to a study conducted in 2010, people who are highly involved in a situation are more likely to solve the problem in a systematic manner by considering all the possible factors of the situation while the less involved people tends to take decision based on the way the information is presented to them.

5. Rephrasing Information

Whenever you are presented with any information or choices, try to rephrase it in different ways. When you rephrase the information you will easily interpret the positive and negative framing manipulation. Try to consider credible sources to verify the presented data rather than straightaway believing it.

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