The Framing Effect, or the Easiest Way to Trick the Human Brain

We continue to break down the mental traps that deceive our minds. We have already covered survivorship bias and confirmation bias. We learned how game theory works and talked about FOMO, and today we will analyze the framing effect.

So, imagine you are about to undergo a complex surgery. You are sitting in the surgeon's office, your palms are sweating, and you ask the main question: "Doctor, what are my chances?"

The surgeon looks at you seriously and says: "The probability of a fatal outcome during this surgery is 10%." You panic. 10 out of 100 people die on this table! You start thinking about your will and want to run out of the clinic.

Now let's rewind time. The same office, the same surgeon, but he says a different phrase: "The surgery is very safe. The absolute survival rate is 90%." You exhale with relief. 90% is a great chance! You confidently sign the consent for the surgery.

Stop. Mathematically, a 10% mortality rate and a 90% survival rate are exactly the same thing. The statistics haven't changed by a fraction of a percent. Only one thing has changed — the packaging of the information.

This is one of the most powerful mental traps of the human brain — the Framing Effect.

What is framing and why do we fall for it?

The word "frame" speaks for itself. The essence of the effect is that our perception of any fact critically depends on the frame in which it is placed.

A gloomy frame of loss makes us scared and prone to taking risks. A bright frame of gain calms us down and makes us agree.

This effect was brilliantly proven by psychologists Amos Tversky and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman. In the 1980s, they conducted the now-legendary "Asian disease" experiment.

Students were asked to imagine that the US was preparing for an outbreak of a rare disease expected to kill 600 people. The government proposes two life-saving programs:

• Program 1: Will guarantee to save 200 people.
• Program 2: Has a 1/3 probability that all 600 will be saved, and a 2/3 probability that no one will be saved. Result: 72% of people chose the safe Program 1. We love guaranteed salvation.

Then another group of students was offered the same situation, but the conditions were rephrased:

• Program 3: 400 people will die for sure.
• Program 4: Has a 1/3 probability that nobody will die, and a 2/3 probability that all 600 will die. Result: Hearing about the "guaranteed death of 400 people," people panicked. 78% of the students chose the risky Program 4.

The trick is that Program 1 and Program 3 are the exact same thing (out of 600 people, 200 will survive, and 400 will die). But as soon as the scientists changed the frame from the word "save" to the word "die," people radically changed their decisions.

How marketers and politicians use this against us

Our brains are hacked every day using the framing effect. Here are three classic examples from our lives:

1. The supermarket trick. You are standing in front of a shelf with ground meat. One package says: "Contains 20% fat." The other has a large green sticker: "80% lean meat!". People mass-purchase the second option, overpay for it, and feel like healthy eating advocates. No one wants to buy "fat"; everyone wants to buy "meat." Hand sanitizers "kill 99% of bacteria" — imagine who would buy them if the label honestly read: "Leaves 1% of dangerous microbes alive"?

2. Penalty or discount? A gas station owner notices that processing credit cards costs him too much. He decides to introduce a price difference. If he puts up a sign: "Gas costs 100 rubles. If paying by card — a surcharge (penalty) of 5 rubles" — customers will be furious and drive away to competitors. People hate it when their money is taken away. But a smart owner puts up a different sign: "Gas costs 105 rubles. If paying in cash — a DISCOUNT of 5 rubles!". Result: customers are happy and feel like winners, even though they are paying the exact same amount.

3. Information wars. News channels are masters of framing. The exact same event can be presented in completely different ways.

• Frame 1: "Unemployment has risen to 5%" (Disaster! The economy is collapsing!).
• Frame 2: "The employment rate remains high at 95%" (Hooray, stability!).

Why is our brain so lazy?

The answer lies in evolution. Our brain is programmed for loss aversion. For ancient humans, losing a piece of meat was much more dangerous (starvation) than finding a second identical piece (just a hearty dinner). Therefore, any words associated with loss, risk, death, or penalty hit directly at the brain's amygdala, causing fear.

The brain simply doesn't want to spend precious energy (glucose) translating percentages from one column to another. It reacts to the emotional coloring of a word.

How to remove someone else's "frame"?

The framing effect cannot be turned off, but you can learn to notice it. Here are two main antidotes:

1. The inversion rule. When you are offered a statistic or a fact, mentally flip the sentence. If you are told: "This startup has an 80% chance of success," say out loud to yourself: "So, it has a 20% chance of burning to the ground." Doesn't sound so appealing anymore, does it?
2. Look for absolute numbers. Percentages, words like "a lot," "benefit," "discount" — these are picture frames. Demand to see the picture itself. Count not the saved percentages, but the absolute cash that will leave your card.

The words we use to describe reality become our reality. The next time someone offers you a choice, ask yourself: am I reacting to the facts right now, or to the pretty frame they were packed in?