Filtered dossier

Framing Effects

The same fact, aimed in a different direction.

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    Framing Effects Entry #0517

    Why the word only reframes any number

    Only asserts that a quantity falls below an expectation. The expectation is never stated, so the reader accepts the comparison without ever seeing what it was against.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0517

    Only does not describe a quantity. It asserts that a quantity is below a benchmark the reader is left to invent.

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    Framing Effects Entry #0516

    The reason a rule stated positively is followed more

    A prohibition names a boundary and invites the reader to locate it. An instruction names a behaviour, and there is no edge to be found.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0516

    A prohibition tells the reader where the edge is. An instruction never mentions that an edge exists.

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    Framing Effects Entry #0515

    Why a deadline framed as an opportunity underperforms

    Register by Friday to secure your place and register by Friday or lose your place describe one deadline. Only the second one recruits the faster motivational system.

    Master
    The hidden part #0515

    A deadline does not motivate by its date. It motivates by whether the reader believes they currently hold the thing.

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    Framing Effects Entry #0514

    The reason a percentage feels different to a fraction

    Twenty per cent and one in five are the same quantity in different formats, and the format decides whether the reader pictures a proportion or a person.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0514

    A percentage describes a rate. A frequency describes people, and people are what the reader responds to.

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    Framing Effects Entry #0525

    Why a neutral description is itself a frame

    Every description selects a level of detail, a boundary and a vocabulary. Choosing not to editorialise does not remove those choices, it conceals them.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0525

    Neutral prose still picks the subject, the verb and the boundary. It is the most effective frame because it offers nothing to disagree with.

    Open file
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    Framing Effects Entry #0524

    The reason a first sentence frames an entire report

    Early material does not merely arrive first. It supplies the structure that later material is filed into, and filing is harder to undo than reading.

    Master
    The hidden part #0524

    The opening does not compete with the body. It decides which reading each ambiguous finding in the body receives.

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    Framing Effects Entry #0523

    Why calling something an investment ends the price discussion

    A cost is judged against a budget. An investment is judged against a return, and returns are estimated in the future where nobody can check them.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0523

    Calling a cost an investment does not argue the price down. It moves the number to an account judged by a forecast.

    Open file
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    Framing Effects Entry #0522

    The reason a metaphor decides a policy debate

    A metaphor imports the logic of its source. Once crime is a virus, the conversation is about containment, and containment was never voted for.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0522

    A metaphor is not decoration on an argument. It is the machinery the argument runs on, and it arrives with its conclusions pre-installed.

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    Framing Effects Entry #0521

    Why a small print frame changes a large claim

    A qualification only qualifies if it is read. Position, size and timing determine whether it modifies the claim or merely accompanies it.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0521

    A qualifier must beat the claim for attention or it merely accompanies it. Present and effective are different properties.

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    Framing Effects Entry #0520

    The reason a benefit framed as recovering a loss converts better

    Stop losing four hours a week outperforms gain four hours a week. The hours are the same; only the position they are measured from has moved.

    Master
    The hidden part #0520

    The frame does not describe the offer. It installs the baseline the offer will be measured from, and repairs feel more urgent than upgrades.

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    Framing Effects Entry #0519

    Why a comparison class is chosen before a claim

    Best in class, safest, fastest growing. Each is a true statement about a set, and the set was selected after the numbers were known.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0519

    Choosing the comparison class is not a step before the analysis. It is the analysis, and it can be run backwards from the answer.

    Open file
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    Framing Effects Entry #0518

    The reason an average framed as typical misleads

    The mean of a skewed distribution describes nobody in it. Calling it typical smuggles in a claim about the shape that was never checked.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0518

    A summary discards the shape. The adjective attached to it then asserts what the shape was, and adjectives are not auditable.

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