Sex differences in framing effects across task domain

Abstract

The present study investigated how task domain moderated sex differences in framing effects. Five hundred and 86 participants (63.3% female) were randomly assigned to different frame valences (i.e., positive vs. negative) and different task domains (i.e., life-death vs. money vs. time). A participant finished all three framing task types: attribute, goal, and risky-choice frames. Results showed that in the life-death domain, females (vs. males) exhibited stronger responses to negative frames. In the monetary domain, males (vs. females) showed a greater response to negative frames. In the time domain, the patterns of sex differences were inconsistent across different framing tasks such that in the goal framing task, females were more willing to take actions under negative (vs. positive) frames while males were just the opposite; in the risk-choice task, female were more inclined to take risks under positive (vs. negative) frames while males did not show significant framing effects. These results indicated that the framing effect is sex-specific, varying according to the gender role in different task domains. The present research highlights the necessity to distinguish, rather than combine, individual judgments and decision-makings in different task domains when investigating framing effects.