Abstract
Previous studies have shown that when choosing one of two logically equivalent frames (e.g., “half full” or “half empty”), people tend to choose based on a reference point. For example, when the amount of water in a glass with 500 ml capacity was originally 0 ml (or 500 ml), and then increased (or decreased) to 250 ml, people tend to express the amount of water in the glass as “half full” (or “half empty”). In the present study, we examined whether participants explicitly made a frame choice based on the reference point. We conducted four behavioral experiments relating to frame choice tasks. Specifically, participants were presented with a story-based or prime-based reference point and then made a frame choice. Furthermore, participants provided their reasons for the choice. Our findings on frame choices and their reasons can be summarized as follows. First, when participants were presented with a story-based reference point, some of them reported that they made frame choices based on the reference point. Second, when a reference point was presented as a prime, participants’ frame choices were affected by this reference point. However, almost no participants reported that they made frame choices based on the reference point. These results indicate that the effect of reference points on frame choices is robust and that people do not always explicitly make frame choices based on the reference point.
Highlights
As for the reason for their choice, we examined whether it was consistent with the reference point hypothesis for frame choices that were in accordance with its prediction
As in Experiment 1, we examined whether the reason for choice was based on the reference point for frame choices that were consistent with the reference point hypothesis (n = 39 and 50 for the low and high reference point groups, respectively)
Participants in the low reference point group chose the full frame more than those in the high reference point group (51.6 and 33.9% for low and high reference point groups, respectively; χ2(1) = 7.11, p < 0.01, h = 0.36), showing that choice pattern was consistent with the prediction of the reference point hypothesis. As in the former experiments, we examined whether the reason for choice was based on the reference point for frame choices that were consistent with the reference point hypothesis (n = 63 and 80 for the low and high reference point groups, respectively)
Summary
In the research field of judgment and decision making, numerous researchers have examined how decision makers are affected by logically equivalent but different expressions in their decisions (e.g., Tversky and Kahneman, 1981; Kühberger, 1998; Levin et al, 1998; Soman, 2004; Keren, 2011).Recently, several researchers have discussed how people choose a frame in order to express outcomes or situations (e.g., McKenzie and Nelson, 2003; Sher and McKenzie, 2006, 2008; Keren, 2007; Honda and Matsuka, 2014). The reference point hypothesis predicts that people describe the glass as “half full” when the glass previously contained 0 ml (i.e., low reference point) more often than when the glass previously contained 500 ml (i.e., high reference point). In this situation, McKenzie and Nelson (2003) and Sher and McKenzie (2006) reported that participants’ frame choice behaviors are consistent with these predictions. The reference point hypothesis can widely predict people’s frame choice behaviors in conveying quantitative information (Moxey and Sanford, 1993a,b; Teigen and Karevold, 2005; Keren, 2007; Juanchich et al, 2010; Honda and Yamagishi, 2017)
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