FRAMING EFFECTS AND ARENAS OF CHOICE - YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE

This paper investigates the consistency of outcome framing effects on choice across two arenas of outcome: human life and money, Past resear ch has yielded notable variability in the magnitude of framing effects , One possible contributor to the variation in magnitude is outcome ar ena, Past research has varied along this dimension without systematica lly assessing its effects, Undergraduates (N = 297) responded to three decision scenarios involving either human lives or money in which out comes were framed either positively or negatively, Eased on prospect t heory, an interaction between framing and arena was predicted, such th at a greater framing effect was expected in the human life arena (i.e. , more risky choices were expected when outcomes involved human life t han money in the negative frame and the reverse in the positive frame) , Results were only partly consistent with this prediction, Regardless of frame, subjects made riskier choices when outcomes involved human lives rather than money, This was not expected for the positive frame, Even though human lives presumably have greater utility than dollars, subjects in the positive framing condition made riskier choices regar ding human life than money, Additionally, no overall framing effect wa s observed, There was a significant sex by frame interaction such that only women exhibited framing effects on choice, This extends the find ing of sex differences in framing to the monetary arena. This has impo rtant implications for the conduct of future studies on framing as wel l as for the interpretation of past and future framing research. (C) 1 997 Academic Press.