title: The effect of abstract versus concrete framing on judgments of biological and psychological bases of behavior.
abstract: Human behavior is frequently described both in abstract, general terms and in concrete, specific terms. We asked whether these two ways of framing equivalent behaviors shift the inferences people make about the biological and psychological bases of those behaviors. In five experiments, we manipulated whether behaviors are presented concretely (i.e. with reference to a specific person, instantiated in the particular context of that person's life) or abstractly (i.e. with reference to a category of people or behaviors across generalized contexts). People judged concretely framed behaviors to be less biologically based and, on some dimensions, more psychologically based than the same behaviors framed in the abstract. These findings held true for both mental disorders (Experiments 1 and 2) and everyday behaviors (Experiments 4 and 5), and yielded downstream consequences for the perceived efficacy of disorder treatments (Experiment 3). Implications for science educators, students of science, and members of the lay public are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, 125 Nightingale Hall, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 USA.
authors.forename: Nancy S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University, Box 208205, New Haven, CT 06520-8205 USA.
authors.forename: Samuel G B
authors.initials: SGB
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University, Box 208205, New Haven, CT 06520-8205 USA.
authors.forename: Woo-Kyoung
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, Yale University, 344 College Street, New Haven, CT 06511 USA.
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Knobe
keywords: Causal attribution; Explanation; Framing effect; Person perception; Science education