The effects of outcome framing and change of problem domain on monetary decisions

We varied outcome frame (presentation of the options' outcomes as gains vs. losses) and problem domain (gain vs. loss problem) in a monetary decision task, The experiment was a conceptual replication of a study conducted by H ighhouse and Paese (1996, Exp. 2). In deviation from the former study, we p resented the Variants of the decision problem audio-visually. Furthermore, we completely presented: outcome information. In contrast to the results re ported by Highhouse and Paese, we did not obtain effects for outcome framin g, but rather found changes in preference dependent on the problem domain. Participants who were presented with a gain problem prefered the sure optio n over the risky option more often than those who were presented with a los s problem. Also in contrast to the farmer study, our participants generally prefered the risky option more often than the sure one. The results are di scussed with reference to Prospect theory.