How can the framing effect alter decision-making?

The framing effect plays a significant role in decision-making by highlighting how the way information is presented can influence perceptions and choices. When the same information is presented in different ways, it can evoke different reactions and preferences, even if the underlying facts remain unchanged.

For instance, consider a health-related scenario where a medical treatment is described as having a "90% success rate" versus being told that it has a "10% failure rate." Although these two statements convey the same statistical information, the positive framing of the success rate may lead individuals to be more inclined to choose the treatment compared to the negative framing of the failure rate, which may cause hesitation or rejection.

This phenomenon occurs because individuals' decisions can be swayed by their emotional responses to the context in which information is presented. The same facts can lead to different interpretations and judgments based on how they are framed, which is reflective of cognitive biases affecting decision-making processes. Therefore, by presenting the same information in different ways, the framing effect can significantly alter the decisions individuals make.