Personality Traits Moderate Attribute Framing Effects

Previous research on attribute framing effects focused on context-specific variables that moderate it. This research examined whether two personality traits, namely agreeableness and conscientiousness, moderate the effect of attribute framing on the perceived fairness of allocation criteria. Two experiments showed that attribute framing affected the perceived fairness of allocation criteria for participants who score high on these personality traits. In contrast, participants who score low on these personality traits were relatively immune to attribute framing effect. Critically, these personality traits did not moderate the effect of attribute framing on evaluations in a nondistributive justice scenario. These findings are consistent with the possibility that highly agreeable and highly conscientious people are more sensitive to social issues, and, consequently, are more susceptible to attribute framing in scenarios that involve distributive justice. Theoretical implications are discussed and future research is suggested.