Personal Relevance and Mental Simulation Amplify the Duration Framing Effect

Different framing of the same duration (1 year, 12 months, 365 days) can influence consumers’ impressions of subjective duration, and thus affect their judgments and decisions. The authors propose that ironically, self-relevance amplifies this duration framing effect. Consumers for whom a particular self-improvement domain is personally relevant are less likely to adopt a 1-year self-improvement plan compared to a 12-month plan because they perceive it as longer and more difficult. This bias is more likely to manifest for consumers who report that the task is highly personally relevant to them, when making predictions for themselves (versus others), and for those who have high (versus low) task involvement. Personal relevance amplifies this effect because it prompts process-focused simulation of the plan, consequently increasing susceptibility to spurious duration and difficulty cues embedded in frames