Abstract
An intriguing phenomenon that arises from decision making is that the decision maker’s choice is often influenced by whether the option is presented in a positive or negative frame, even though the options are, de facto, identical to one another. Yet, the impact of such differential framing of equivalent information, referred to as the attribute framing effect, may not be the same for every culture; rather, some cultures may be more readily influenced by the differentially valenced frames than others (i.e., showing a greater difference in evaluation in a positive vs. negative frame). The present study investigates to what extent and why cultures may differ in their sensitivity to the attribute framing effect. Participants were recruited from South Korea and the United States, cultures characterized by their focus on prevention and promotion, respectively, to test for the cultural variability in the attribute framing effect. The results revealed that Korean participants were markedly more influenced by the valence of the frame than North American participants. Regulatory focus explained why Koreas showed a greater sensitivity toward the attribute framing effect than North Americans. Specifically, a greater prevention (vs. promotion) orientation of Korean participants led them to show a greater evaluation gap in the positive and negative frames. Implications for cultural significance on the attribute framing effect are discussed.
Highlights
Is the glass half empty or half full? the two are logically identical states, how the glass is presented creates different impressions in people
A positively framed object or event (“glass half full”) gains a more favorable evaluation than if the same object or event was to be framed negatively (“glass half empty”). Such a tendency to attribute an aspect of information that looms larger in presentation, referred to as the attribute framing effect, has been theorized to take place because the way information is framed influences what becomes salient in people’s representation of the object or event (e.g., Levin and Gaeth, 1988; Igartua and Cheng, 2009); the positive aspect of information looms larger in memory when the information is presented positively, gaining a more favorable evaluation, whereas the negative aspect of the object or event is Variability in the Framing Effect encoded in a negatively framed condition, leaving people to attribute unfavorable qualities to the object or event
To promote a better understanding of the attribute framing effect, the present study aims to investigate to what extent and why cultures may be differentially influenced by the attribute framing effect
Summary
Is the glass half empty or half full? the two are logically identical states, how the glass is presented creates different impressions in people. A positively framed object or event (“glass half full”) gains a more favorable evaluation than if the same object or event was to be framed negatively (“glass half empty”) Such a tendency to attribute an aspect of information that looms larger in presentation, referred to as the attribute framing effect, has been theorized to take place because the way information is framed influences what becomes salient in people’s representation of the object or event (e.g., Levin and Gaeth, 1988; Igartua and Cheng, 2009); the positive aspect of information looms larger in memory when the information is presented positively, gaining a more favorable evaluation, whereas the negative aspect of the object or event is Variability in the Framing Effect encoded in a negatively framed condition, leaving people to attribute unfavorable qualities to the object or event. With no studies examining the differential impact and mechanism of the attribute framing effect on divergent cultures, it remains unknown why cultural differences may exist in the attribute framing effect and to what extent they may differ
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