Framing and default effects have been studied for more than a decade in different disciplines. A common criticism of these studies is that they use hypothetical scenarios. In this study, I developed a real decision environment: using Facebook API and web development technologies I designed a Facebook application in which users had to decide whether or not they wanted to be automatically publicly tagged in their friends’ pictures and/or tag their friends in their own pictures. To ensure ecological validity, participants had to log in to their Facebook account. Our results confirmed previous studies indicating a higher tagging rate in positively framed and accept-by-default conditions. Furthermore, we introduced a manipulation that we assumed would overshadow and thereby reduce the effects of default and framing: a justification highlighting a positive or negative descriptive social norm or giving a rationale for or against tagging. We found that such justifications may at times increase tagging rates.

Feel free to browse the app through this link and access the award winning paper through this link.