── ── Cognitive bias
Framing Effect
The framing effect: logically equivalent descriptions of the same decision produce different choices depending on whether outcomes are cast as gains or losses. Frame determines whether the brain enters gain-mode or loss-mode; the choice follows from the mode.
How it works
Step 1 — Identify the frame: gain/loss/attribute/goal; verbatim language; who chose it. Step 2 — Construct the equivalent alternative frame: same math, opposite wording. Step 3 — Re-evaluate: does your choice change under the alternative frame? If yes, the frame is doing the work. Step 4 — Compute frame-independent EV: strip the language; which option is rationally best? Step 5 — Diagnose framer intent: who benefits from the framed choice? Was the frame chosen to steer? Step 6 — Choose response: take framed option (if aligned with EV), take frame-independent option, or expose the frame.
When to use it
- user says 'how you say it matters', 'they're spinning the numbers', 'same data but sounds different', 'is this just framing?', wants to write a persuasive message, suspects a statistic is one-sided, or is evaluating options where the language feels loaded
When not to use it
the different descriptions convey genuinely non-equivalent information (one frame omits real facts); the decision is trivial and multi-frame analysis exceeds the stakes.
Worked example
Tversky and Kahneman's 1981 "Asian Disease" Study
The 1981 Science paper that established the framing effect was the most concise and most-cited entry in Tversky and Kahneman's two-decade research program on judgment under uncertainty. The Asian Disease problem became a teaching staple in business schools, medical schools, law schools, and policy programs because of its single, devastating clarity: the same logical content produces different choices.
Install this skill (free, MIT)
npx skills add deciqAI/knowledge-skills