Framing effect (psychology)

Ok kiddo, have you ever had to make a decision between two choices? Maybe picking a dessert at a restaurant, or choosing a toy at the store? Well, sometimes the way the options are presented to you can affect your decision.

Let's say the waiter tells you that the dessert comes in two sizes - small for $5 or large for $10. You might think to yourself, "I don't want to spend $10 on dessert, I'll just get the small one." But what if the waiter presented the options differently? What if they said, "For just $5 more, you can get the large size!" Now you might think, "Oh, $5 isn't too much more, I'll go for the big one."

That's what we call the framing effect. How something is "framed" or presented can make you think about it differently and influence your decision. It shows that people are not always purely logical and rational when making choices.

This effect can also be seen in things like marketing and politics. Advertisements might present a product as "75% off" instead of "25% off" to make it seem like a better deal. Politicians might use certain words and phrases to frame an issue in a way that supports their agenda.

So, the framing effect is when the way something is presented can change the way we think about it and make decisions.