Framing effect

effectus formulationis

About

The framing effect is the differing evaluation of logically equivalent content on account of its presentation. The proposition is unchanged; the wording moves, and judgment moves with it.

Taxonomy - Semantic-presentation bias, intensional distortion. The defect is a failure to preserve judgment under equivalence.

Informal Example - "90% survive" feels better than "10% die," though the numerical content is equivalent.

Minimal Symbolic Form

F1(P) ≡ F2(P), yet Judge(F1(P)) ≠ Judge(F2(P))

One proposition, two verdicts; only the frame has changed.

Semantic Analysis

Invalid Evaluation Pattern:

Presentation(P) ⇏ TruthDifference(P)

A change in wording does not necessarily change propositional content.

Missing Necessary Condition

Different judgments require a genuine semantic or evidential difference:

¬(F1(P) ≡ F2(P))

If the frames are equivalent, judgment should remain invariant.

Equivalence Model

Biased Model:

Frame(P) → Evaluation(P)

Corrective Model:

Content(P) → Evaluation(P)

Frame may aid communication, but equivalent content should not produce contradictory logical evaluation.

Modal / Semantic Formalization

If two frames are equivalent, then in all models:

□(F1(P) ↔ F2(P))

Biased judgment violates invariance:

Accept(F1(P)) ∧ Reject(F2(P))

Epistemic Representation

𝔼(FrameDifference) ⇏ □(ContentDifference)

A difference in wording does not justify belief in a difference of truth conditions.

Countermodels

Equivalent Frames

F1(P) ≡ F2(P) ∧ DifferentResponse(F1,F2)

The different response is explained by presentation, not logic.

Non-Equivalent Frame

F1(P) ¬≡ F2(P)

Not every framing difference is biased; some formulations change content.

Historical Background

There is no established Latin name for the framing effect. The Neo-Latin effectus formulationis is descriptive.

Historical parallels are strongest in rhetoric and semantics: wording can move assent without changing proof.

Bacon's idola fori, the idols of the marketplace, are especially relevant because they concern how words and common usage can mislead understanding.

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