The Attribute Framing Effects That Influence DecisionMaking Are Altered by Gestures

Abstract

People make satisfying decisions based on biased choices. The attribute framing effect is a type of cognitive bias in which logically equivalent but different verbal expressions influence decision making. Most studies of the attribute framing effect to date have clarified which verbal expres-sions cause framing bias in decision making. However, it has not been determined whether the attribute framing effects occur even when a gesture is presented with verbal expressions or only when only verbal expressions are presented. We conducted experiments to investigate how ges-tural stimuli affect the attribute framing effect. As a result, we found that the attribute framing effect occurs, but is reduced, when a gesture expressing quantitative information is presented with a verbal expression compared to when only a verbal expression is presented. Our findings make a practical contribution to the research on the attribute framing effects by providing insight into the extent to which the attribute framing effects occur when people view nonverbal infor-mation alongside verbal expressions.