Linguistics

Framing effect

Engineering

Philosophy

Social psychology

Rhetoric

Archaeology

Economics

Disadvantaged

Psychology

Politics

Political science

Epistemology

Sociology

Framing (construction)

Dictator

Structural engineering

Persuasion

Positive economics

History

Games and Economic Behavior

Ample evidence shows that certain words or ways of phrasing things can cause us to change our preferences. We demonstrate one mechanism for why this happens - "framing" evokes norms which then influence choice. We use a laboratory study to test the impact of describing a series of dictator games with either politically charged tax- or neutrally-framed language. Subjects' political identities interact with these frames, causing changes in both norms and choices. Framing makes Democrats prefer equalized outcomes, and Republicans reluctant to redistribute payments even when it leaves them disadvantaged.

Rhetoric matters: A social norms explanation for the anomaly of framing