Susceptibility to Framing Bias: Does 'Othering' Induce More Switching from Risk To Loss Aversion Under Save &/Loss Frames?

We test for whether susceptibility to save/loss frames differs in the United States in the classic disease outbreak scenario by randomly changing information about the disease origin. Under dual process theory, individuals have two modes of decision-making, a slow, methodical, rational mode and a quick process that relies on heuristics and can result in cognitive biases. Heightened emotions can trigger individuals to move from the first to the second state. We hypothesize that the greater degree of unfamiliarity will induce fear and increase the susceptibility to framing bias.