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How people frame decisions 357
Figure 14.3 – The nine-dot problem
solution until it was pointed out to them. By contrast, the second group
of people, who were immediately presented with the first group’s final
problem, saw the straightforward solution without difficulty. These
studies demonstrate that thought can become mechanized, inthatwe
tend to automatically follow a previously successful way of solving a
problem without evaluating whether it is, indeed, best suited to the
nature of the problem in hand.
Figure 14.3 presents another paper-and-pencil problem called the ninedot
problem. 2 Your task is to draw four continuous straight lines,
connecting all the dots, without lifting your pencil from the paper.
The correct solution is shown in the Appendix. Try the problem first
and then refer to the solution.
Consideration of our difficulties in solving the water jug and ninedot
problems indicates that the way in which a problem is ‘framed’
influences the type of solution that we see as appropriate.
How people frame decisions
The decision frame refers to how you view and structure a decision
problem. It involves determining what must be decided, what the
options are and which criteria will be used for choosing between the
options. Consider a television station that has been experiencing a