Framing effects : a fresh perspective from the health and retirement study

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The current study examines framing effects using two different problems (disease outbreak and investment), while attempting to replicate earlier findings and shed light on unanswered questions within the literature. The study also examines the effect of framing on self-reported health status as a real-life consequence of this phenomenon. A subset of respondents (N = 1,687) from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) completed two framing problems. Relationships between framing effects and the other assessments were examined. Nearly half of the sample (48.2%) showed a framing effect in at least one problem. However, only 11.1% displayed a framing effect in both problems. Women were more likely to show framing effects in the disease outbreak problem (p=.008), but men were more likely to exhibit framing effects in the investment problem (p=.066). Age was negatively related to framing effects in the investment problem (p=.002) but tended to be positively related to framing effects in the disease outbreak problem (p=.068). Respondents with less education tended to be more likely to exhibit framing effects in both domains (p=.003). A one-way ANOVA revealed that there was no difference in self-report health status for those showing different framing effects (p=.504). The results suggest that framing effects exist, yet predictors of framing effects are not universal across all domains. However, self-report health status was identical across individuals showing different framing effects, and there may not be any real-world consequences of exhibiting the effect.Includes bibliographical references (pages 29-34)