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The Framing Effect: How Presentation Changes Our Choices
Identical facts, radically different decisions
A doctor says 'there's a 90% survival rate.' Another says 'there's a 10% mortality rate.' The same operation, but patients choose surgery far more often with the first framing.
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The framing effect, demonstrated by Tversky and Kahneman in 1981, shows that logically equivalent information produces different decisions depending on how it is presented.
In positive frames, we become risk-averse; in negative frames, we become risk-seeking — even when the expected outcomes are mathematically identical.
Framing effects are used everywhere from political speeches to medical consent forms. Learning to recognize them makes you a more critical thinker and informed citizen.
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It's okay to be wrong. The thinking process is what matters.
Quick Check
Question 1 of 3What does the framing effect demonstrate about human decision-making?