The framing effect is a cognitive bias in which people make different decisions depending on how the same options are described. In classic experiments, researchers gave participants logically equivalent choices. When outcomes were presented as gains, such as lives saved, most people chose the certain option. When the same outcomes were presented as losses, such as lives lost, people switched and chose the gamble. The results contradicted the idea that people weigh options consistently. Prospect theory, developed by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, explains part of this: losses loom larger than equal gains. The effect has been studied in medicine, marketing and politics, where pollsters and campaigns often frame questions to get favourable answers.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.