It seems to me like the substitution principle might be an explanation for the power of framing effects. You get a different answer for a question depending on what question you end up substituting for System 1 to answer.
That might explain the framing effect Eliezer noticed in Circular Altruism. The first time the question was asked it triggered System 1 to ask “How much would it suck if that gamble in option 2 didn’t pay off?” When the question was reframed it triggered System 1 to ask “How much does it suck that 100 people die with certainty?”
The probably explains why political activists like to fight over framing effects so much. When people are asked the question “Would it be good for the government to do this?” System 1 spits out “Would it be good for my favorite metaphor for the government to do something vaguely analogous.” What specific metaphor System 1 gets fed would obviously have huge power in framing the question.
It seems to me like the substitution principle might be an explanation for the power of framing effects. You get a different answer for a question depending on what question you end up substituting for System 1 to answer.
That might explain the framing effect Eliezer noticed in Circular Altruism. The first time the question was asked it triggered System 1 to ask “How much would it suck if that gamble in option 2 didn’t pay off?” When the question was reframed it triggered System 1 to ask “How much does it suck that 100 people die with certainty?”
The probably explains why political activists like to fight over framing effects so much. When people are asked the question “Would it be good for the government to do this?” System 1 spits out “Would it be good for my favorite metaphor for the government to do something vaguely analogous.” What specific metaphor System 1 gets fed would obviously have huge power in framing the question.