The framing preference for large and increasing components in static and dynamic descriptions

This line of thought is supported by two experiments containing items offering two-sided distribution information at two points in time. Our first experiment employs a static task, requiring a description of the T2 situation. The second experiment uses a dynamic task, asking participants to describe the development from T1 to T2.

We hypothesize that in static tasks the component size is the strongest frame choice determinant, while in dynamic tasks frame choice is mainly driven by whether a component has increased. The experiments consist of 16 different scenarios, both with symmetrical contrasts (i.e., dogs vs. cats) and with asymmetrical ones (i.e., winning vs. losing). The experiments use three crossed factors: proportion size (largest/smallest), direction of change (increasing/decreasing) and contrast symmetry (asymmetric/symmetric).

Both experiments support the hypotheses. In the static task, the size effect is the only consistent effect; in the dynamic task, the effect of direction of change is much larger than that of size. This pattern of differences between size and change effects applies across symmetrical and asymmetrical contrasts.

Our experiments shed light on cognitive and communicative regularities involved in the production of framed messages: people do tend to prefer larger and increasing proportions when choosing a frame, but the relative strength of both these preferences depends on the communicative task. Date: 2021-08-20