ABSTRACT
Kahneman and Tversky’s (1979) “prospect theory” has demonstrated that the way in which a decision problem is formulated, or “framed,” can have strong and predictable effects on the perceived attractiveness of the options it offers. At times, the relative attractiveness of two options may be reversed as the result of a reframing that should make no difference at all, according to traditional economic theories of choice. To predict people’s behavior with the theory, one must be able to predict what frame they will impose on a particular problem. The seven studies reported here explored different ways of predicting frames, with results that were generally discouraging for the prediction of individuals’ choices, generally encouraging for the prediction of group choices.
