Relationship between the framing effect and individual differences in medical students and psychology students

• Main Authors: Tatyana V. Kornilova, Elizaveta M. Pavlova, Yuliya V. Krasavtseva, Anna U. Razvalyaeva
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Lomonosov Moscow State University 2017-12-01
• Series: Nacionalʹnyj Psihologičeskij Žurnal
• Subjects: decision-making; framing effect; risk-readiness; rationality; tolerance-intolerance for uncertainty; The Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire; self-esteem risk-readiness
• Online Access: http://npsyj.ru/pdf/npj-no28-2017/npj_no28_2017_017-029.pdf

Background. Framing effect is rarely studied in relation to individual differences. In cognitive psychology, it reflects distortions in decision-making depending on the context (phrasing) of statements about alternatives, and framing is found within medical professional samples. Objective. The objective of the study are asfollows: 1. to identify the differences in the students of medical and non-medical universities and susceptibility to framing,2. establish in both groups similarities of individual decision-making styles (coping with uncertainty if any) in self-assessments (intelligence, risk taking and personality) and in willingness to take risks and tolerance/intolerance to uncertainty, 3. to identify the specific relationship between susceptibility to the framing effect (FE) in medical students with their personal properties. Design. The paper describes the study of framing on medicine (n = 78) and psychology students (n = 122). It is demonstrated that in Kahneman and Tversky’s “Asian disease problem”, the psychology students show reframing effect while medical students don’t show difference in answers. Participants who choose different answers in negative phrasing of the issue differ in self-esteemed risk taking and intolerance for uncertainty; but there is no difference in positive version of the problem. Differences in personality profiles of the future members of medical and non-medical students have been established, both in terms of the personality variables and their associations to the dynamic regulatory systems. Medical students are characterized with less procrastination and higher risk readiness. Self-esteemed risk is correlated with risk readiness in both samples (and negatively connected to rationality within the psychology student sample). Unexpectedly, risk preparedness is also correlated with intolerance for uncertainty in both groups. Medical students are characterized by specific correlation between risk readiness and personal self-esteem (good/bad person scale). Self-esteemed risk proposed is shown to be not only connected to corresponding questionnaire scale of personal risk preparedness but also to correlate to the choice in the framing effect issues. Results. These and other connections report about specifics of personal characteristics structure within the group of medical students.