‘The Framing Effect’ is one of the typical cognitive biases which affects how decisions are made based on the way in which information is presented to us.
If you have recently read our guide, ‘4 Big Challenges for Brands in 2024 and How to Solve Them Using Psychology’, you’ll know that one of the main challenges we see amongst businesses is creating effective messaging. Not only are businesses struggling to communicate effectively but they are drowning in a pool of competitors who all happen to be boasting near-identical features and capabilities across their products and services.
In this article we focus on The Framing Effect, understanding this bias will enable you to make your content both more powerful and actionable.
The Framing Effect is one of the typical cognitive biases which affects how decisions are made based on the way in which information is presented to us.
The principle highlights the importance of focusing on how information is presented rather than the information itself. For instance concentrating on positive rather than negative attributes is much more likely to evoke a response.
To give an example, businesses that are based in finance and focus on the potential rewards rather than losses are much more likely to see a positive response to their messaging and content. (See losses vs gains below.)
Our choices on a daily basis are all influenced by the way options are framed, whether that be through messaging, imagery or emphasis.
The Framing Effect can be used in many different ways to create more effective content. Each of the following factors should be taken into consideration:
Most people favour information that is quick and easy to digest when making decisions. Therefore, options that are framed in an easy to consume way are likely to be favoured over those that are hard to understand.
An obvious example of this comes from pharmaceuticals, where a drug can be referred to as ‘curing 99% of headaches’ rather than ‘only 1% of consumers reported a headache after taking the medication’.
Framing relies on emotional appeals , therefore using imagery, case study and video content that directly speaks to your audience at an emotional level is much more likely to get a positive response than long- form written content which is typically more rational and requires more cognitive load.
Likewise, factors as straightforward as colour, images, font style and font size are all examples of visual frames which can have an impact on decision making.
According to research from Psychology Today, we each make upwards of 35,000 choices per day. Based on the average person being awake for 17 hours each day, that equates to roughly 2,000 decisions per hour. With this in mind, every piece of content you share with your audience should apply the following: