The Framing Effect in Humanitarian Operations

Framing effects refer to different responses to different semantic but objectively equivalent descriptions of the same problem. Studies of framing effects originated in judgment and decision-making. They proliferated and expanded to other areas like healthcare, marketing and management, among others. Framing effects have been documented in decisions made by providers and recipients of healthcare, consumer choices, bargaining decisions and many other decision-making contexts (Levin, Schneider, & Gaeth, 1998). Despite the breadth of applications of framing effects, their study in humanitarian operations is scant. One of the seminal framing effects problems is Tversky and Kahneman’s (1981) Asian disease problem, which frames the outcomes of a risky vaccination program in terms of either lives saved or lives lost.