Caring about framing effects

Amber N. Bloomfield*, Josh A. Sager, Daniel M. Bartels, Douglas L. Medin

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

We explored the relationship between qualities of victims in hypothetical scenarios and the appearance of framing effects. In past studies, participants' feelings about the victims have been demonstrated to affect whether framing effects appear, but this relationship has not been directly examined. In the present study, we examined the relationship between caring about the people at risk, the perceived interdependence of the people at risk, and frame. Scenarios were presented that differed in the degree to which participants could be expected to care about the group and the extent to which the group could be construed as interdependent. A framing effect was found only for the scenario describing the victims as the participants' friends who did not know each other (high caring/low interdependence), and this went in the opposite direction from typical framing effects. Finally, perceived interdependence and caring affected choice both within and across scenarios, with more risky choices made by participants with high interdependence ratings and high caring ratings.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)123-138
Number of pages16
JournalMind and Society
Volume5
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2006

Funding

Acknowledgments This research was partially supported by NSF grant 9983260. The authors would like to thank Russ Burnett, Serge Blok, and Carmen Tanner for their comments on this work.

Keywords

  • Caring
  • Framing effects
  • Group size effects
  • Interdependence
  • Risk
  • Value function

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Philosophy
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Caring about framing effects'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this