FRAMING AS SOCIAL INFORMATION LEAKS
The framing effect occurs when a personâs choice differs depending on how two logically equivalent statements are framed. This effect feeds one of the core ideas for many behavioural economists; that people behave irrationally. If we all acted according to rational economic theory, it wouldnât matter how the choice was framed, we should all still make the same choice. Whether a doctor frames a statement as âFive years after surgery, 90% of patients are aliveâ or âFive years after surgery, 10% of patients are deadâ,the number of people choosing to go ahead with it should not be affected, but it is. Significantly more people choose surgery after the â90% are aliveâ framing than the â10% are deadâ framing.
According to Thaler and Sunsteinin Nudge,âFraming works because people tend to be somewhat mindless, passive decision makersâ and so it offers a âbrief glimpse a human fallibilityâ. Psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer, who is not of the belief that people are irrational creatures, reports in a fascinating new paper that this conclusion is unfair on humans, and instead suggests that this effect occurs due to the social intelligence of humans. He states that frames âleakâ information to us and our social intelligence picks up on the implicit recommendation. By saying â90% of people surviveâ, the doctor is leaking information that it is the âsurviveâ aspect that we should concentrate on, whereas by stating that â10% of people dieâ, the doctor is implicitly saying that it is the âdieâ aspect we should concentrate on, therefore implicitly recommending no surgery. This means that logically equivalent frames are not necessarily informationally equivalent.
Gerdbacks his argument by stating that when people are given the full information, âAfter surgery 90% of people survive and 10% die,â the framing effect disappears. The leaking of information has disappeared and therefore there are no subtle recommendation clues being given to the patient.
In conclusion, he states that speakers rely on framing in order to implicitly convey relevant information and make recommendations that listeners pay attention to. In these situations, framing effects clearly do not demonstrate that people are âmindless passive decision makersâ, but demonstrate the social intelligence of people being able to read between the lines and make intelligent decisions based on the information given.
Gigerenzer, G. (2015). On the Supposed Evidence for Libertarian Paternalism. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 6(3), 361-383.