What is the Framing Effect?

The Framing effect is the principle that our choices are

influenced by the way they are framed through
different wordings, settings, and situations.
How does it happen?
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Which one of these products would you pick: A ‘95% effective’ condom
or a ‘5% failure’ condom? ‘80% lean’ ground beef or ‘20%’ fat ground
beef? Most people would be more likely to choose the first option in
both cases, even though the two choices are identical.

The standard economic model predicts that people will always make
the same choice if given the same outcomes, by maximizing expected
utility. In their groundbreaking 1979 study, Amos Tversky and Daniel
Kahnemann demonstrated that the choices we make are also
influenced by the way they are framed. Different wordings, settings,
and situations will have a powerful effect on decision-makers.

Framing often comes in the form of gains or losses, as in prospect

theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). This theory demonstrates that a
loss is perceived as more significant, and thus more worthy of
avoiding, than an equivalent gain. In the hierarchy of choice
architecture a sure gain is preferred to a probable one, and a probable
loss is preferred to a sure loss.  Choices can also be worded in a way
that highlights the positive or negative aspects of the same decision,
and thus prompt the affect heuristic to come to the fore.
RELATED BIASES

 Mere Exposure Effect

 Priming Effect
Why is it important?
The framing effect has consistently proven to be one of the strongest
biases in decision making.The ways in which framing can be used are
nearly unlimited; from emotional appeals to social pressure to priming.

When a positive frame is presented people are more likely to avoid

risks, but will be risk-seeking when a negative frame is presented.
Especially important to note is that the effect seems to increase with
age, which is important when designing health and financial policies.
Example
There are many prominent examples of framing e.g. proposing the risk
of losing 10 out of 100 lives vs the opportunity to save 90 out of 100
lives, advertising beef that is 95% lean vs 5% fat, or motivating people
by offering a $5 reward vs imposing a $5 penalty (Levin, Schneider, &
Gaeth, 1998).

Tversky and Kahneman asked participants in their study to decide

between two treatments for 600 people who contracted a fatal disease.
Treatment A would result in 400 deaths, and treatment B had a 33%
chance that no one would die but a 66% chance that everyone would
die. This was done with either positive framing (how many people
would live) or negative framing (how many people would die).
Treatment A received the most support (72%) when framed as saving
200 lives, but dropped significantly (to 22%) when framed as losing
400 lives.
Almost 100% of students registered early when a penalty fee frame
was presented for not doing so, compared with just over 65% when it
was framed as a discount (Gächter et al., 2009)

In one study, a minority supported the right to “forbid public

condemnation of democracy”, but a clear majority opposed allowing
“public condemnation of democracy”(Rugg in  Plous, 1993).

Economic policies receive higher support when framed in terms of the

employment rates rather than unemployment rates. (Druckman,
2001b)

Pre-trial detention can encourage a defendant to accept a plea bargain

because imprisonment has now been set as the status quo, and a guilt
plea might lead to early release rather than an act that guarantees
some prison time (Bibas,  2004).
Further reading
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/insight-
therapy/201012/framing-your-most-important-and-least-
recognized-daily-ment

http://www.adsavvy.org/the-power-of-framing-effects-and-
other-cognitive-biases/