FRAMING AS SOCIAL INFORMATION LEAKS
The framing effect occurs when a person’s 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 wouldn’t matter how the choice was framed, we should all still make the same choice. Whether a doctor frames a statement as “Five years after surgery, 90% of patients are alive” or “Five years after surgery, 10% of patients are dead”,the number of people choosing to go ahead with it should not be affected, but it is. Significantly more people choose surgery after the “90% are alive” framing than the “10% are dead” framing.
According to Thaler and Sunsteinin Nudge,“Framing works because people tend to be somewhat mindless, passive decision makers” and so it offers a “brief glimpse a human fallibility”. 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 “leak” information to us and our social intelligence picks up on the implicit recommendation. By saying “90% of people survive”, the doctor is leaking information that it is the “survive” aspect that we should concentrate on, whereas by stating that “10% of people die”, the doctor is implicitly saying that it is the “die” 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, “After surgery 90% of people survive and 10% die,” 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 “mindless passive decision makers”, 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.
