The Right Frame of Mind

When you read the claim on a container of surface cleaner that it “kills 99 percent of all germs,” you think, “Wow! This stuff kills pretty much everything!” And into your cart it goes. Now imagine you see a bottle of cleaner that says, “Only leaves one percent of germs alive.” Suddenly you’re thinking about the one percent of leftover super germs remaining on your kitchen counter that are probably plotting to kill you and then take over the world.

Obviously killing 99 percent of germs and leaving one percent of germs mean the exact same thing. But they don’t make us feel the same. As much as we hate to admit it, humans are fleshy emotion-filled blobs still relying on caveman instincts. How a statement makes us feel doesn’t have something to do with how we make purchasing decisions—it has everything to do with how we make purchasing decisions.

We make our choices based on how information is presented. The information itself can be exactly the same, as in the example above, but the framing of that information determines how we choose. This “framing effect” is one of the many cognitive biases that impact how we make decisions and how we can influence the decisions made by others.

WHY DO WE FALL FOR FRAMING?

What makes us interpret information differently based on how it’s presented? One reason is due to loss aversion, also known as prospect theory, which we discussed a few weeks ago when covering the status quo bias. We perceive a loss as more significant than an equal amount of gain. Framing something as a loss, versus a gain, changes how we see it—even though the facts of the matter are exactly the same.

In a 2006 study published in Science, participants were given £50. One group was told that they could choose to (a) gamble the money or (b) lose £30 of the £50. A second group was told they could (a) gamble the money or (b) keep £20 of the £50. In the first group, 62% chose to gamble with their money. In the second group, only 43% chose to gamble. There was no difference between how much money they were left with if they chose not to gamble. The only difference was whether that amount was framed as a gain or a loss.

We also fall for the framing effect because our brains use heuristics, or shortcuts, to make things easier. Two of these heuristics make us particularly susceptible to the framing effect. One is the availability heuristic—we tend to use the information that comes to mind most quickly. Information framed in a way that makes it easy to recall (perhaps because it is phrased more simply) is more likely to be used in decision-making.

Another heuristic we use is called the affect heuristic. We rely heavily on our emotional state when making a decision. Information framed in such a way so as to elicit an emotion (e.g., fear of losing something) is more effective than information that doesn’t evoke emotion.

In terms of how information can be framed to influence decisions, that is only limited by your imagination. We already mentioned framing a choice as a loss versus a gain. Think of all the ways products and services get framed in advertisements for more examples of framing. The tone of voice and body language of the individual delivering the messages serves as a frame. Even the colors and fonts of a print ad serve as a frame.

A frame can be constructed from attributes of a product, risks of not using the product, or the goals of the prospect. Knowing your intended audience helps you construct the best frame for your message.

DIFFERENT FRAMES FOR DIFFERENT PEOPLE

A 2021 study published in the Strategic Management Journal looked at how entrepreneurs present new ideas in the hope of persuading others to support them. Fans of Simon Sinek may follow his advice to great leaders of starting with the “why” behind the new idea. Those who have read Adam Grant’s Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World might disagree. Grant shares in his book that skipping the “why” and instead focusing on the “how” is what can convince skeptics that an idea is possible.

So, which is it? Should innovators sell their ideas with the why or the how? Research says it depends on their audience. Let’s say you’re an entrepreneur trying to sell your new idea of biological fuel cells derived from jellyfish protein. Are you trying to crowdfund it with friends, family, and the general public? In that case, you should talk about the “why” all day long. It’s appropriate to use abstract ideas to get the crowd excited about it.

But what if you’re pitching your idea to the experts? You’re talking to angel investors who focus on alternative energy. You’re talking to microbial fuel cell experts. You’re talking to cnidarian researchers (those who study jellyfish, corals, and anemones). This is when you should focus on the how. These are the people that want concrete ideas. They know enough to know why your idea probably won’t work, so you need to be ready to explain how it can.

The more someone knows about a topic, the more involved they are, the less they are impacted by typical framing techniques that are used to influence decisions.

WHEN THE “HOW” PEOPLE DO THE FRAMING FOR THE “WHY” PEOPLE

We’ve written before about the curse of knowledge bias—the idea that when you know something well, you are no longer capable of remembering what it was like before you knew this information. The curse of knowledge can make it difficult to sell your product or service because you lose sight of what the basics are that your prospect needs to understand. Perhaps you assume your prospect is interested in how your product works when you should be focusing on why they need it.

You are a “how” person in the field of whatever you’re selling. You know enough to be skeptical of new ideas and need to know the how, the nitty-gritty details, behind them. The people you sell to will be a mix of “how” people and “why” people, and you need to know how to frame information for both groups. If you don’t, you’ll lose sales to why-people decision-makers who don’t understand why they need you. Poor framing can result in lost sales, and sometimes it can result in much worse.

During the 1960s, the federal government initiated a program to define and understand flood-prone areas across the country. They established flood hazard guidelines that incorporated maps of how likely flooding was in various areas. These maps are especially useful to prospective property buyers in determining whether an area is a safe place to build a house.

Here’s where things went sideways with framing. If an area has a one percent chance of flooding in any given year, it is said to be within the “100-year floodplain.” The people creating these floodplain maps are the “how” people. They understand that a one percent chance each year means that if you live there for 40 years, there is an approximately 33 percent chance your house will flood while you’re living there. Would they buy land and build a house there? Hell, no.

Your average citizen deciding whether to buy and build on a plot of land is a “why” person. They are not experts in statistics or weather. When they hear “100-year floodplain,” they think, “Only a storm that comes around once in 100 years can flood my house? That sounds like pretty good odds.” Would they buy land and build a house there? Yes. Yes, they would.

And now you understand the problems that can result from the framing effect. And the curse of knowledge. And Houston during hurricane season.

Are you interested in learning more about the science behind how people make decisions? Reach out at mastery@maestrogroup.co for information on our live and self-paced training.