A hard-to-read font reduces the framing effect in a large sample

Area of Science:

• Cognitive psychology
• Behavioral economics

Background:

• Decision biases, such as the framing effect, are common cognitive shortcuts.
• Foreign language use has been shown to reduce framing effects, potentially due to increased cognitive processing.
• Cognitive disfluency, induced by difficult-to-read fonts, is hypothesized to enhance cognitive processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether cognitive disfluency, specifically through the use of hard-to-read fonts, can reduce framing effects.
• To examine the reliability and replicability of font-induced cognitive disfluency on decision biases.

Main Methods:

• Conducted three studies: a laboratory experiment (N=158) and two online studies (N=271, N=732).
• Assessed framing effects across four different scenarios, including the classic "Asian disease" problem.
• Utilized hard-to-read fonts to induce cognitive disfluency and compared decision-making to standard font conditions.

Main Results:

• No reliable evidence for reduced framing effects was found in the initial laboratory and online studies.
• A preregistered online study with a large sample (N=732) revealed a small but significant reduction in the framing effect for the "Asian disease" scenario using a hard-to-read font.
• Effect sizes for font-induced bias modulation were generally small.

Conclusions:

• Hard-to-read fonts can potentially modulate decision biases, but the effects are often small.
• The findings underscore the critical importance of large sample sizes for ensuring the reliability and replicability of research on cognitive bias modulation.
• Future research should explore the boundary conditions and mechanisms underlying cognitive disfluency effects on decision-making.