Framing to reduce present bias in infrastructure design intentions

Abstract

Summary: Infrastructure professionals (N = 261) were randomly assigned to either a future or present-framed project description and asked to recommend design attributes for an infrastructure project. The future-framed condition led professionals to propose a significantly longer infrastructure design life, useful life to the community, and acceptable return on financial investment. The findings suggest a straightforward and inexpensive way to lessen present bias in various design contexts

Keywords

• Civil engineering
• Construction engineering
• Interdisciplinary application studies
• Sociology