Framing Bias—Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

Have you ever been asked, “Is the glass half empty or half full?”   Even though this might seem silly, wouldn’t you rather have a glass that was half full than half empty?  The phrase “half full” is processed as a positive expression, similar to “someone gave me half of something.”  On the other hand, “half empty” implies that something negative has happened, basically, “someone took half away from me.”

This technique of phrasing questions or other information to influence the response is referred to as framing bias, or the framing effect (Kernochan).  If you take a minute to look around, this practice is used everywhere. From advertising to politics to surveys, we encounter framing bias everyday.

If you’re deciding on which professor to take a certain class with next semester, you might look up statistics on their pass rate.  You find that one teacher has a 70% pass rate.  You look up another professor to find that three out of ten students fail the class.  Holding all other factors constant, which professor do you choose?  If we take a closer look at these statistics, they actually tell us the same information. 

Naturally, when we are given information we approach it with a sort of tunnel vision.  When the information or question is worded in such a way that leans towards one side or idea, this tunnel vision is magnified (Behavioral).  This clouds our reasoning and can affect our decisions.  Wouldn’t you rather take a class that 70% pass than one where three out of ten fail?  The words “pass” and “fail” may affect your decision but when it comes down to it, it is the same raw information.

Framing bias can be seen on a larger scale as well.  According to Professor Scott Smith, the tourism industry had to make a big move years back to keep timeshare a successful venture.  It got to a point where people were turned off by the idea of timeshare because of the long presentations and fees.  This resulted in a negative association with the term timeshare.  People in the industry figured this out and created a new thing called vacation club.  Essentially, timeshare and vacation club are the same, the only difference: the name.

This use of intentional language is also a form of framing bias.  Here, the tourism industry realized continuing on the path using the term timeshare would not work, so they simply changed the name of the business practice.  Vacation club became a new thing to be a part of that many people wanted to participate in (Smith).

Even though framing bias surrounds us, there are ways to avoid it.  The best way to evade it is to just be aware.  If you are conscious of the wording of questions and information, it will be easier to make an objective decision.  Moreover, asking questions and probing for more information can allow you to make a more knowledgeable decision.

References:

Behavioral finance—framing. (9 January 2011). Retrieved from http://pgreen finch.pagesperso-orange.fr/bfglo/bfglo.framing.htm

Kernochan, R. (8 August 2004).  Framing and framing theory.  Retrieved from http:// www.csun.edu/~rk33883/Framing%20Theory%20Lecture%20Ubertopic.htm

Smith, S. (6 September 2011).  Tourism—Hotels and Lodging.  Introduction to hospitality. Lecture conducted from University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL.