Framing and Social Interaction: An Experimental Study of Associative Framing

Sammanfattning: Associative framing is said to be present when two or more contexts differ in normative charge and this results in decision makers changing their behavior between the contexts. Since norms are thought to matter in social dilemmas, associative framing could affect the cooperation rate in such situations. This experimental study investigates the features of associative framing in social dilemmas. As earlier studies exhibit imperfections in their experimental design we start by confirming that an associative framing effect in social dilemmas does exist. Second, we show that social interaction between human actors is a necessary prerequisite for this effect to occur. We do this by using a unique design that eliminates social interaction from one of the two parts of the experiment. Third, we find a clear gender difference in sensitivity to associative framing, with women being much more sensitive than men. This is in congruence with prior studies indicating that women are more responsive to social norms than men. Moreover, we use a post-experimental questionnaire in order to get a clearer picture of the underlying processes behind associative framing. The answers from the questionnaire indicate that this process is to a large extent unconscious to the subject.