The Cognitive Bias of Framing

People are more influenced by the positive or negative connotation than the information itself. Individuals are more likely to desire risks when the information is framed negatively, but seek to avoid risks when the information is framed positively.

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For example, if a news article frames an issue as a crisis, people are more likely to feel alarmed and support drastic action, whereas if the same issue is framed as a challenge, people may feel more motivated to address it in a positive way.

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This is Framing in action.

Framing is a form of Cognitive Bias:

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Framing is a cognitive bias that occurs when people's decisions or judgments are influenced by the way information is presented to them.

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This bias is based on the idea that the same information can be presented in different ways, and depending on how it is presented, it can evoke different emotional responses or influence people's decisions.

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During the Covid-19 Pandemic, many vaccine manufacturers had to face the backlash from certain influential lobbies, who without much relevant data tried to paint the vaccines as unfit for humans. Because of the negative propaganda by such groups, many people took the risk of not vaccinating themselves.

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Using Prospect Theory to explain Framing:

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The concept of Framing is based on the Prospect Theory (Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, 1981), which states that individuals are more influenced by the possibility of a loss than the prospect of an equivalent gain.

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The peculiarity of human cognitive bias is such that while a probabilistic deprivation is favoured over a sure deprivation; a definite gain is preferred to a probabilistic gain.

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Let us look at an example: A?housing society was facing issues in collecting the maintenance charges, whether annual or half-yearly. People refused to pay in advance and they preferred to pay it monthly - but the payment was irregular, as they were paying at their own will.

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The management team floated three options:

1. Pay the maintenance annually to avail 3% discount or pay half-yearly in advance to avail 1.5% discount

2. Pay monthly by 7th of the current month

3. Penalty/ late fee @10% p.a, calculated on actual days elapsed

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Needless to say, most people opted to pay annual or half-yearly and few on time every month- as they loathe to pay the penalty. Here the framing effect got manifested when individuals are offered different options within the context of merely one of the frames.

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Age influences Framing:

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It has been found experimentally that framing as a bias increases with age. Pre-schoolers decide based on quantitative values. Elementary schoolers rely more on qualitative reasoning – surer options within positive frame and riskier options within negative option.

Adolescents opt for riskier ones under both gain (positive) and loss (negative) framing. As aging is correlated with the decline of cognitive capabilities, older people tend to lean on less cognitively demanding means when making decisions. Therefore, Older adults are more likely to be influenced by the framing effect than are young adults,

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Is it possible to Overcome the Framing Effect?:

James Druckman from the University of Minnesota investigated how framing effects may be reduced or overcome (Druckman, 2001).

In one of his many experiments, he presented the participants a hypothetical choice between surgery and radiation to treat lung cancer, along with a recommendation from specialists from two prominent medical research organizations on which option to choose.

It was found that the endorsement from a credible source could dramatically decrease or even eliminate the framing effect.

In any relationship, this is a common notion to continue with it at all costs, despite signs of major disagreement or crossing the personal boundary. We over-consider the possible projected future gain vs the continuous mental torture at present and try to play the waiting game.

This is a very serious unhealthy practice and should be avoided. We must start thinking about positive gains of mental peace, not long-term losses on investment in the relationship.

Tips on reducing the Framing effect:

- By closely examining all available options- both positive and negative connotations, helps in reducing the framing effect

- By separating out marketing related glossy stuff from the hard core substance of any advertisement to take a pragmatic view

- Avoid any decision making on the spot. ?Any quick decision without sufficient data is not a sound decision

- Re-visit the decision when new information arrives and make necessary corrections.

-Re-evaluate decisions as time passes and situations evolve. Sometimes, we may find things get changed than predicted

-Risk is an integral part of business. It is better to prepare different risk profiles under different scenarios. This would help to evaluate the decision if it did not follow any earlier predicted perspective

- Make a realistic assessment of targets, so that any variation can be understood in proper context

- When we make a decision, some may prove to be good and some may produce undesirable outcomes. Not only we have to be prepared for such a scenario, we should also know how to deal with such outcomes

Therefore, it is essential to consider the framing effect when communicating information to individuals to ensure that they make informed decisions based on the substance of the information rather than the presentation.

#framing #decisionmaking