Influencing Decision Criteria
Here are a few simple examples of how framing works:
A study showed that patients who were told an operation had a 90% chance of success were more likely to go ahead with it, whilst those who were told the same operation had a 10% rate of failure were more likely to opt out. Clearly the choice of words made a big difference to the receiving of the message and the resulting decision.
Another study found that people will shop elsewhere in order to save 3 Euros off a CD valued at 12 Euros, but are less likely to worry about saving 3 Euros off a jacket worth 125 Euros. In this example, the saving is the same either way, but it’s purely the perception of the saving that is clearly different.
So what we discover here is that it is both the choice of wording combined with the perceptions of the recipients (that creates the criteria) that leads to peoples’ decision making.
Most of us know about this to some degree or another, but the reality is that few use it beneficially and even fewer use it skilfully. A well skilled ‘framer’ is able to assess the recipients decision making criteria and then carefully select appropriate wording that has the most positive and influential effect.
More Than Words…!
Just when framing might seem relatively simple to grasp, let me outline why, just like any other skill, it requires plenty of practice and development as an art-form.
During the 80’s a band called Extreme had a hit with a song called ‘More Than Words’. The lyrics of the first verse were:
"Saying I love you
Is not the words I want to hear from you
It's not that I want you
Not to say, but if you only knew
How easy it would be to show me how you feel
More than words is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me
'Cause I'd already know."
The main message of the song is really centred around the old saying ‘actions speak louder than words’ with an added underlying message that ‘you should know me well enough to know what I want’.
Equally, these same concepts underpin the idea of framing. Just like any other meaningful relationship, managers and leaders working relations with staff need to have some substance. Of course we're not talking about a loving relationship, but more about having a good working relationship that has some respect and trust, otherwise no amount of framing is going to work.
Even though framing involves the careful selection and use of words, it is in fact definitely more than words! It’s equally about utilising vocal tools such as pacing, pitch and pauses. Some of the same skills that professional actors use. I know this because I worked as an actor myself for 10 years. I remember listening to a friend of mine (a fellow actor) who attended RADA, the famous drama college in London. During this time I would hear him spend copious amounts of time trying out his delivery of certain lines - alternating the pitch, the tone, and particularly the emphasis until he was satisfied the line was delivered in the most impactful way.
So an example of this would be the famous speech in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet - ‘alas poor Yorick, I knew him well’. If you place the emphasis on ‘alas’ it brings out the power of the personal emotion. Alternatively, if you place the emphasis on ‘poor’ it places emphasis on the empathy factor. If you were to place the emphasis on the section that says ‘I knew him’, this adds more to the personal relationship factor.
Do you get the idea?