Does the same fact feel different depending on how it is worded?

Yes: the same facts, worded differently, can flip what people choose. This is the framing effect, a cognitive bias where decisions change depending on how options are framed, even when they are logically identical.

The classic demonstration is the Asian disease problem, from the psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman. Participants were asked to choose between two treatments for 600 people affected by a deadly disease. Treatment A was predicted to result in 400 deaths. Treatment B had a 33 percent chance that no one would die and a 66 percent chance that everyone would die. When it was described by how many would live, 72 percent chose the sure option, Treatment A, presented as saving 200 lives. When the same choice was described by how many would die, the result reversed and 78 percent chose the gamble, Treatment B.

The numbers are the same either way. What changed is whether the outcome sounded like a gain or a loss. In prospect theory, a loss weighs more than an equal gain, and people prefer a sure gain but a gamble over a sure loss.

Wording sways ordinary choices too. In one study, 93 percent of PhD students registered early when a penalty fee for registering late was stressed, but only 67 percent did when the same difference was called a discount for registering early. In studies of undergraduates, students were more likely to enjoy meat labelled 75 percent lean than 25 percent fat. The defence is simple: restate the choice the other way round, and see whether your answer holds.