Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

arrow_back_ios_new
MENTAL MODEL · M4710

Framing Effect

Framing Effect
Learn & MetacognitionHigh supportCognitive Psychology
Included
account_tree

Updated 2026-08-02

Loading revision record…

INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

Introduced by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, the framing effect shows that choices change when identical outcomes are described as gains rather than as losses. In their Asian disease problem, most participants chose the certain option when it was framed as saving 200 lives, but most chose the risky option when the same program was framed as 400 deaths. The mechanism draws on loss aversion: people avoid risk when a frame highlights gains and seek risk when it highlights losses. Key qualification: framing shifts preferences at the margin, and the effect weakens under an explicit expected-value calculation.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Test for consistency: rewrite the same decision in both gain and loss terms and check whether your choice holds. - Choose your frame: present the version that matches your audience's reference point. - Spot manipulation: notice when a vendor or advocate picks the frame that favors their preferred outcome.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

A frame sets the reference point against which outcomes are coded as gains or losses. Because losses loom larger than equivalent gains, a loss frame makes the same prospect feel riskier and pushes people toward gambles that could avoid the loss. The underlying outcome never changed; only the side of the reference point it sits on did.

MINIMUM ACTION

In progress 0/1

Practice this model in one real situation:

Check to track your progress (stored locally)
Learning progress0%
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more

Source support: Explicit

  • link
    zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A1%86%E6%9E%B6%E6%95%88%E6%87%89ZH · Explicit
    verified

RELATED MODELS

Related model

Attention Residue

A phenomenon in which attention remains partly on Task A after switching to Task B, potentially impairing information processing and performance on B.

arrow_forwardRelated model

The Forgetting Curve

The Forgetting Curve is a curve used to describe the rate of forgetting in long-term memory. It was first proposed by psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus based on his experiments conducted from 1880 to 1885. In these experiments, Ebbinghaus used meaningless letter combinations. By memorizing these combinations and checking the forgetting rate after a series of time intervals, he obtained this curve. Therefore, this curve is also called the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve.

arrow_forwardRelated model

Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon

The frequency illusion (also known as the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon or Red Car Theory) is a cognitive bias in which a person notices a specific concept, word, or product more frequently after recently becoming aware of it. The name "Baader–Meinhof phenomenon" was coined in 1994 by Terry Mullen in a …

arrow_forward