Reframe the problem or the
solution
November 15, 2010
Overview
• What is framing?
• What can it do to help guide good choices?
– What are some useful examples, and can we build
on them?
Use reframing to make things stick
What is reframing?
• It’s presenting the same option in different
formats
– This can change people’s opinions, choices, and
preferences
– Both formats are accurate, and convey the same
information
– The meaning of that information is what differs
• REFRAMING: “Our new fan uses 50% less energy than our
old fan!” versus “Our old fan uses twice as much energy as
our new fan!”
• NOT REFRAMING: “Our new fan uses 50% less energy than
our old fan!” versus “Our new fan uses twice as much
energy as our old fan!”
Make a good thing better…
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Know your audience
Know your numbers
Know your reference point
Know your strengths
Reactive devaluation
• Proposal offered by the Palestinians on
5/10/93
• “How good is the proposal for Israel (1-7)?”
minus “How good is the proposal for the
Palestinians (1-7)?
Putative source
Participants
Israeli delegation
Palestinian delegation
Israeli Jews
-0.95
-2.45
Israeli Arabs
0.93
-0.01
Party over policy
• Participants evaluate a welfare reform bill
– Some participants were told that the bill was
written by Republicans, others told it was written
by Democrats
• Ps indicate (on a 1-7 scale) how much they are
in favor of the bill
Bill was written by
Participants’ own affiliation
Liberal
Conservative
Democrats
5.46
2.69
Republicans
3.15
5.49
Cohen, 2003
Make a good thing better…
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Know your audience
Know your numbers
Know your reference point
Know your strengths
The cost of safety
• School buses used to occasionally catch on fire
• Safety features could have been added to
newly built buses that would help prevent this
from happening
• These features would cost about $1000 per
bus
The cost of safety
• Some people were not in favor of adding
these features
• Their math:
• 30,000 new buses per year X $1000 = an extra
$30 million a year school districts would have
to spend
• Only about 30 schoolchildren died this way
per year, so each saved life cost $1 million
The cost of safety
• Fans of not burning children alive had
different math
• Buses usually last 10 years, so the cost per
year per bus is only $100
• The cost per school day per bus is 56¢
• The cost per pupil per day is less than half of
1¢
Reframing
A treat
• It’s hot, and you’re at the beach. You want a
refreshment. How much would you pay for
this Häagen Dazs ice cream?
Make a good thing better…
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•
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Know your audience
Know your numbers
Know your reference point
Know your strengths
Framing effects
• Imagine that the country is preparing for the
outbreak of an unusual disease, which is
expected to kill 600 people. Two programs have
been proposed.
– If program A is adopted, 200 people will be saved
– If program B is adopted, there is a 1/3 chance that
600 people will be saved, and a 2/3 chance that no
one will be saved
• Imagine that the country…
– If program C is adopted, 400 people will die
– If program D is adopted, there is a 1/3 chance that
nobody will die, and a 2/3 chance that 600 will die
Tversky & Kahneman, 1981
Prospect theory
Prospect theory
• People are risk averse when choosing among
gains, and risk seeking when choosing among
losses
• Compare:
– Winning $740 versus taking a 75% chance to win
$1000
– Losing $750 versus taking a 75% chance to lose $1000
• Loss aversion: losses loom larger than gains
– Consider a gamble where you have a 50% chance of
winning $1000 and a 50% chance of losing $1000
Construal even happens in Japan!
• Some investment advice
Construal and saving
• Northwestern Mutual survey of 2,741 household decision
makers (all bachelor’s degree or higher) earning at least
$75,000. Survey conducted September 2003, with sample
balanced and weighted according to U.S. Census averages.
• Could you comfortably save 20% of your
household’s annual income at this point in your
life?
– YES = 51%
• Could you comfortably live on 80% of your
household’s annual income at this point in your
life?
– YES = 77%
Mental accounting
• Imagine that you have decided to see a play
and paid the admission price of $20 per ticket.
As you enter the theater, you discover that
you have lost the ticket. The seat was not
marked and the ticket cannot be recovered.
• Would you pay $20 for another ticket?
– 46% say yes
Tversky & Kahneman, 1984
Mental accounting
• Imagine that you have decided to see a play
where admission is $20 per ticket. As you
enter the theater, you discover that you have
lost a $20 bill
• Would you still pay $20 for a ticket to the
play?
– 88% say yes
Tversky & Kahneman, 1984
Mental accounting
• Why are people generally willing to buy a ticket
after having lost $20, but not willing to buy
another ticket after having lost their previous
($20) ticket?
• It matters what “mental account” you file the loss
under:
• If you lose the ticket and buy another, you have
just increased the price of the play to $40
• But if you lose $20 and then buy a ticket, the
price of the play is still only $20
Make a good thing better…
•
•
•
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Know your audience
Know your numbers
Know your reference point
Know your strengths
Framing effects
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Pro-life versus pro-choice
Liberal versus progressive
Terrorists versus freedom fighters
Cash discounts versus credit card surcharges
Make a good thing better…
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Know your audience
Know your numbers
Know your reference point
Know your strengths
Know your limits
Summary
• If all else fails, redescribe your issue:
– Emphasize (or deemphasize) the source
– Do the math
– Give a good starting place
– Emphasize your best features