Choosing the right frame: how context preferences facilitate subsequent decisions

Context shapes how we perceive choices and, therefore, how we decide between them. For instance, a large body of literature on the “framing effect” demonstrates that people become more risk-seeking when choices are framed in terms of losses. Despite this research, it remains unknown how people make choices between contexts and how these choices affect subsequent decision making. To address these questions, we designed the Frame Selection Task (FST). On each trial in the FST, participants first choose how risky and safe options are framed, either in terms of gains or losses, and then select between them. We found that participants exhibited frame preferences, with a predominant preference for the gain frame, and that they were willing to incur costs to select options within their preferred frame. Moreover, participants selected frames that aligned with their risk preferences: people with stronger risk aversion displayed a stronger gain-frame preference. These results demonstrate how people choose between contexts and that they can combine these preferences with cognitive biases to facilitate decision making.