Everything You Need to Know About the Framing Effect (and How Not to Get Trapped by This Cognitive Bias)
Backed by science and the work of Tversky and Kahneman.
Have you ever taken a satisfaction survey? For the last smartphone you bought, for example? If so, you should know that the way the questions were formulated must have influenced your answers and that it probably led you to declare yourself more satisfied than you are. Because the way a problem is formulated will influence our brain in one way or another.
Certain turns of phrase put more emphasis on one piece of information than another and lead our mind to take them into account more to reason. Hence an influence on our choices.
To show this, psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman invented the following so-called “theater ticket” problem, in two versions.
The first formulation was:
“Imagine that you have decided to go to a play with an admission price of $10 per ticket. As you enter the theater, you find that you have lost a $10 bill on the way ... Will you still buy a $10 theater ticket?”
Second formulation:
“Imagine that you have decided to go to a play for which you have paid $10 for your ticket. As you enter the theater, you realize that you have lost your seat. The tickets are not named specific and you have no way to get a replacement. Will you go to the box office and buy a new seat for $10?"
It is quite likely that you would find yourself more likely to buy a ticket in the first situation than in the second, as 88% of participants in Tversky and Kahneman's experiment had the first version, compared to only 46% in the second version.
Yet, from an economic point of view, the two cases are equivalent: you have lost 10 dollars (either a 10-dollar bill or a ticket for which you paid 10 dollars). But the wording completely changes the situation.
50% dead or 50% alive?
This wording bias exists in many contexts. Even when it comes to health. Here again, Tversky and Kahneman proved it with their so-called “health program” problem. They asked two groups of volunteers to choose the best health program for Americans...
Here is what the first group of participants learned:
“Imagine that the United States is preparing for the arrival of a new disease from Asia, which could kill 600 people. Two alternative health programs are proposed to combat this scourge: if program A is adopted, 200 people will be saved, and if it is B, there is a one-third probability that no one will die, and a two-thirds probability that 600 people will die. Which program would you choose?”
And see the wording for the second group of participants:
“Imagine that the United States is preparing for the arrival of a new disease from Asia, which may kill 600 people. If program C is adopted, 400 people will die, and if program D is adopted, there is a one-third probability that all 600 people will be saved and a two-thirds probability that no one will survive. Which program would you choose?”
So, the wording differs in emphasizing either survivors or deaths. But they are the same program!
However, Tversky and Kahneman's subjects were indeed “biased” by the formulations: 72% of the participants in the first group chose program A, and 28%, program B. But only 22% of the volunteers in the second group chose program C (identical to A) and 78%, program D (identical to B)...
Each time, the subjects thought they had chosen the program that would save the most people, but they just chose the formulation that emphasized the survivors ...
The advantage of the framing effect
A fast and often efficient functioning sometimes makes us irrational ... Most of the time, a bit like in the case of the matching bias, it is finally easy to trust the sender of a message considering that he puts forward the important elements.
This is cheap for our minds and socially beneficial in general. However, this assumes that the bearer of the message is benevolent and objective... Which is not always the case.
How not to be trapped by the framing effect?
Whether you are faced with a political proposal, a piece of information in the media, or the questions in a survey, the wording matters and can bias your response. Have fun reversing the wording, as in Tversky and Kahneman's experiment, to see if your answer would differ.
If it changes dramatically, it's time to sit down and take more time to think so you don't get trapped by wording bias.
Some reading
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Jeff Bezos’ Sudden Interest in Philanthropy Won’t Erase the Misconduct That Allowed Him to Amass All Those Billions of Dollars. President Theodore Roosevelt was already pointing out this problem at the beginning of the 20th century.
David Brown Deciphers Sun Tzu’s Art of War in a Business Way. Beware, All Blows Are Allowed. Learning from mistakes is the key to success, as is the willingness to constantly adapt.
Increasingly Criticized for His Methods, Elon Musk Remains Supported and Admired by the Silicon Valley Elite. The Netflix co-founder calls him “the bravest and most creative man on the planet.”
With Advertisers Fleeing, Elon Musk Is Looking for a New Business Model for Twitter. The urgency is real for Elon Musk’s Twitter.