The Effects of Framing, Problem Variations, and Providing Rationale on Choice

Abstract

Tversky and Kahneman reported a large effect of the framing of decision options on choice. When options were phrased positively in terms of gains, people chose the sure thing. But when options were phrased negatively in terms of losses, people chose the risky option. However, not all researchers have replicated this finding, especially when using different decision problems and task requirements. Consequently, problem and/or task variables may be important. The current study investigated two problem variables: degree of apparent gain/loss in the risky option (e.g., partial vs. total) and probability of success in the risky option. The effect of requesting a rationale on the framing effect was also studied. Although framing significantly affected choice, its effects were mediated or moderated by rationale request, degree of apparent gain/loss, and probability, sometimes in complex ways. The findings suggest that framing is less pervasive than previously believed.

Nudging People Away from Privacy-Invasive Mobile Apps through Visual Framing

“…However, this time, we placed these questions after the app evaluation questions to use them for filtering purpose rather than training purpose. We made this decision based on our pilot study and previous research indicating that framing effects are susceptible to rational thinking (e.g., asking people to provide a rationale for their choice eliminates or reduces the framing effects [22]). …”

“…One promising direction is to design visual framings that represent the outcome of a healthy or unhealthy behavior stressing either the positive or negative consequences as we provide health information feedback. Framing research in texts has addressed when framing effects are reduced or eliminated [10,22], which helps HCI researchers select application areas for employing the visual framing.…”

The study of prescriptive and descriptive models of decision making

“…However, the investigation demonstrates that most management graduates choose Plan A in the first set and Plan D in the second set [7]. Changing the description of the outcomes from jobs and plants saved to jobs and plants lost is responsible to shift choice from risk-averse to risk seeking behavior.…”

Justification effects on the judgment of analogy

“…Studies of learning and instruction indicate that students learn more when explaining examples to themselves (Chi, Bassok, Lewis, Reimann, & Glaser, 1989;VanLehn & Jones, 1993), and justifying one's reasoning has been shown to facilitate problem-solving performance, at least under some conditions (Ahlum-Heath & Di Vesta, 1986;Gagne & Smith, 1962;McGeorge & Burton, 1989;Stinessen;1985). There is also evidence that a request to provide a rationale or to write a justification for a prospective choice can aid decision making (Miller & Fagley, 1991;Sieck & Yates, 1997). A possible explanation of these findings is that the act of translating thoughts into words increases the degree to which people search for and process information relevant to their situations.…”