Human Susceptibility to Framing Effect in Decisions Can Be Reflected in Scalp Potentials

Jianmin Zeng, Fenghua Zhang, Ying Wang, Qinglin Zhang, Hong Yuan, Lei Jia, Jiang Qiu

Department of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China.
Ministry of Education’s Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Ministry of Education’s Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Faculty of Psychology,Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Xiangshan High School, Hancheng, China.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2013.46077                

Abstract

Humans are susceptible to a famous decision bias named framing effect, which refers that people make different decisions in two decision questions that are intrinsically the same but described in different ways. This intriguing phenomenon has been widely studied with behavioral methods, animal models, and fMRI technique. To date, it’s still unknown whether human susceptibility to this intriguing decision bias can be reflected in scalp potentials. We recorded subjects’ scalp potentials when they decided between risky options and sure options, which were described in positive or negative way. We found that subjects’ brain potential significantly differed between when their choices were consistent with framing effect and when not. More significantly, we found that their susceptibility to framing effect could be reflected in their scalp potentials. Further research in this line can possibly help minimize framing effect bias.

Keywords

Framing Effect; Risky Decision Making; Prospect Theory; Event-Related Potentials

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	De Martino, B., Kumaran, D., Seymour, B., & Dolan, R. J. (2006). Frames, biases, and rational decision-making in the human brain. Science, 313, 684-687. doi:10.1126/science.1128356
[2]	Deppe, M., Schwindt, W., Kramer, J., Kugel, H., Plassmann, H., Kenning, P., & Ringelstein, E. B. (2005). Evidence for a neural correlate of a framing effect: Bias-specific activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex during credibility judgments. Brain Research Bulletin, 67, 413-421. doi:10.1016/j.brainresbull.2005.06.017
[3]	Deppe, M., Schwindt, W., Pieper, A., Kugel, H., Plassmann, H., Kenning, P., & Ringelstein, E. B. (2007). Anterior cingulate reflects susceptibility to framing during attractiveness evaluation. Neuroreport, 18, 1119-1123. doi:10.1097/WNR.0b013e3282202c61
[4]	Druckman, J. N. (2001a). The implications of framing effects for citizen competence. Political Behavior, 23, 225-256.
[5]	Druckman, J. N. (2001b). On the limits of framing effects: Who can frame? Journal of Politics, 63, 1041-1066.
[6]	Frisch, D. (1993). Reasons for framing effects. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 54, 399-429. doi:10.1006/obhd.1993.1017
[7]	Gonzalez, C., Dana, J., Koshino, H., & Just, M. (2005). The framing effect and risky decisions: Examining cognitive functions with fMRI. Journal of Economic Psychology, 26, 1-20. doi:10.1016/j.joep.2004.08.004
[8]	Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory—An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47, 263-291. doi:10.2307/1914185
[9]	Kuo, W. J., Sjostrom, T., Chen, Y. P., Wang, Y. H., & Huang, C. Y. (2009). Intuition and deliberation: Two systems for strategizing in the brain. Science, 324, 519-522. doi:10.1126/science.1165598
[10]	Lakshminarayanan, V. R., Chen, M. K., & Santos, L. R. (2011). The evolution of decision-making under risk: Framing effects in monkey risk preferences. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 689-693. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.12.011
[11]	Levin, I. P., Gaeth, G. J., Schreiber, J., & Lauriola, M. (2002). A new look at framing effects: Distribution of effect sizes, individual differences, and independence of types of effects. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 88, 411-429. doi:10.1006/obhd.2001.2983
[12]	Levin, I. P., Schneider, S. L., & Gaeth, G. J. (1998). All frames are not created equal: A typology and critical analysis of framing effects. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 76, 149-188. doi:10.1006/obhd.1998.2804
[13]	Ma, Q. G., Feng, Y. D., Xu, Q., Bian, J., & Tang, H. X. (2012). Brain potentials associated with the outcome processing in framing effects. Neuroscience Letters, 528, 110-113. doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2012.09.016
[14]	Marsh, B., & Kacelnik, A. (2002). Framing effects and risky decisions in starlings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 99, 3352-3355. doi:10.1073/pnas.042491999
[15]	Nelson, T. E., Oxley, Z. M., & Clawson, R. A. (1997). Toward a psychology of framing effects. Political Behavior, 19, 221-246. doi:10.1023/A:1024834831093
[16]	Reyna, V. F., & Ellis, S. C. (1994). Fuzzy-trace theory and framing effects in children’s risky decision-making. Psychological Science, 5, 275-279. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1994.tb00625.x
[17]	Smith, S. M., & Levin, I. P. (1996). Need for cognition and choice framing effects. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 9, 283-290. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-0771(199612)9:4<283::AID-BDM241>3.0.CO;2-7
[18]	Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1981). The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice. Science, 211, 453-458.
[19]	Zhang, F., Zeng, J., & Zhang, Q. (2010). Framing effect: Affective heuristics. Psychological Science (in China), 33, 1375-1380.