Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • Article
  • Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

Pseudo-Set Framing

By: Kate Barasz, Leslie John, Elizabeth A. Keenan and Michael I. Norton
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

Pseudo-set framing—arbitrarily grouping items or tasks together as part of an apparent “set”—motivates people to reach perceived completion points. Pseudo-set framing changes gambling choices (Study 1), effort (Studies 2 and 3), giving behavior (Field Data and Study 4), and purchase decisions (Study 5). These effects persist in the absence of any reward, when a cost must be incurred, and after participants are explicitly informed of the arbitrariness of the set. Drawing on Gestalt psychology, we develop a conceptual account that predicts what will—and will not—act as a pseudo-set and defines the psychological process through which these pseudo-sets affect behavior, concluding that over and above typical reference points, pseudo-set framing alters perceptions of (in)completeness, making intermediate progress seem less complete. In turn, these feelings of incompleteness motivate people to persist until the pseudo-set has been fulfilled.

Keywords

Framing Effects; Gestalt Psychology; Judgment; Judgments; Decision Making; Perception; Behavior

Citation

Barasz, Kate, Leslie John, Elizabeth A. Keenan, and Michael I. Norton. "Pseudo-Set Framing." Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 146, no. 10 (October 2017): 1460–1477.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Authors

Leslie K. John

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

Michael I. Norton

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2024
    • Faculty Research

    Measuring the Prevalence of Sensitive Behaviors

    By: Tamar Krishnamurti and Leslie John
    • 2024
    • Faculty Research

    The Agreeable Revealer: Personality Correlates of Self-Disclosure

    By: Elinora Pentcheva and Leslie John
    • 2024
    • Faculty Research

    Should I Stay or Should I Disclose? How Omission Bias Guides Our Disclosure Decisions

    By: Elinora Pentcheva and Leslie John
More from the Authors
  • Measuring the Prevalence of Sensitive Behaviors By: Tamar Krishnamurti and Leslie John
  • The Agreeable Revealer: Personality Correlates of Self-Disclosure By: Elinora Pentcheva and Leslie John
  • Should I Stay or Should I Disclose? How Omission Bias Guides Our Disclosure Decisions By: Elinora Pentcheva and Leslie John
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.