Choices & Framing Biases

How options are presented changes what we choose.

This group of biases is generally related to framing and evaluation; the way an option is presented can change our decision.

Anchoring and Adjustment
This is a judgment bias where an initial value (the “anchor”) influences subsequent estimates or decisions. While we might adjust from the anchor, the adjustment is usually…
Choice Bracketing
Choice bracketing refers to how we group individual choices into broader or narrower evaluation sets. When bracketing narrowly, we seek the maximum immediate satisfaction;…
Context Dependence
Context dependence describes how the same option can be more or less attractive depending on what else is in the choice set. It can further be distinguished into:
Frame Dependence
It’s when our choices change depending on the framing of a problem; in other words, options are not always evaluated in absolute terms but relative to the way they are…
Hedonic Editing
It’s when we narrate events in a way that makes us feel happier. We therefore tend to combine losses with larger gains (to reduce pain) or separate gains into smaller parts…
Hyperbolic Discounting & Present Bias
According to this bias, value is not discounted at a fixed rate over time, but closer rewards are valued much higher than distant ones, at a diminishing rate. In other…
Narrow Framing
It’s the tendency to evaluate events in isolation, rather than considering the whole picture.
Repeated Gambles
Repeated gambles refer to the failure to account for how individual decisions aggregate over time as cumulative sums. For example, each choice may seem trivial in isolation…
Self-Control and Commitment
It’s when we are unable to recognize that our present and future selves have different needs.
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