Post by Stanford University Graduate School of Business

Does a medication increase attention spans or decrease attention lapses? The answer may be the same, but Professor Zakary Tormala finds that the framing could dramatically change how people perceive the drug’s effectiveness. With doctoral student Courtney Lee and Christopher Bechler, PhD ’21, Tormala tested how people react to scientific findings depending on whether results are framed as increases or decreases. The pattern was consistent: Findings framed as increases were perceived as significantly larger, more important, and more deserving of funding — even when the underlying effect was identical. Why the difference? The researchers suspect it comes down to visualization. “If I have a stack of three paper cups and I add two, I can clearly see those two,” Tormala explains. “But if I have five and remove two, it’s harder to picture what’s missing.” In other words, an increase feels more concrete because its effects are more tangible. Even scientists who study people’s behavior aren’t immune to this effect. When the team analyzed nearly 74,000 journal articles, they found that most framed findings in terms of increases rather than decreases. And those articles were cited more often. While the findings offer researchers a tool for boosting the perceived importance of their work, Tormala is more interested in the cautionary implications. “We may overreact to a finding if it’s framed as an increase or underreact if it’s framed as a decrease,” he says. “Our reactions can be shaped by something as simple as word choice.” https://brnw.ch/21x1WWr