Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-2017

Abstract

The words lawyers choose can change the decisions people make. Psychologists call the mechanics of this change “framing.” They’ve found, for example, that more people will decide to have a surgery if they are told that the “survival rate is 90%” than if they are told that the “mortality rate is 10%” — even though a survival rate of 90% is exactly the same as a mortality rate of 10%. They’ve also found that having to pay a “surcharge” for using a credit card rankles people (especially people in the credit card lobby) more than if they were simply told they would get a “discount” for instead using cash. They’ve even found that meat labeled “75% lean” will taste better to consumers than the same meat labeled “25% percent fat.” Framing, it seems, extends all the way to taste buds.

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