You are the mayor of a city.You have received word of an imminent attack that has the potential to destroy the entire town.Your best architect builds a shelter,but he cannot gather enough supplies.He tells you that the shelter can safely accommodate 200 of the town's 800 citizens.If you allow all 800 citizens into the shelter,there is a one-fourth probability that all will be saved,but a three-fourths probability that the supplies will run out and no one will be saved.You decide to hold an emergency town meeting to have the townspeople vote on what to do.Based on what you know about framing effects,how will they vote?
A) They will vote to shelter 200 of the 800 citizens.
B) They will vote to shelter all 800 citizens.
C) The options are mathematically equivalent;both options will be voted for equally.
D) Framing effects will not influence their vote.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The framing effect predicts that people will make different choices depending on how the options are presented. In this case, presenting the options as "shelter 200 of the 800 citizens" vs. "shelter all 800 citizens with a 75% chance of no one being saved" creates a frame where the loss (no one being saved) is emphasized rather than the gain (saving some of the population). This makes people risk-averse and more likely to choose the option that guarantees the survival of some of the citizens (sheltering 200) rather than risking losing all of them. Therefore, the town is likely to vote to shelter 200 of the 800 citizens.

You Are the Mayor of a City