I had a chance to talk to my old cog sci teacher about this. He pointed out that your example is extremely similar to the way the the wording of questions can greatly effect survey results, even if the chance doesn't seriously effect the actual meaning of the question or the content of the explicit information provided. In a later email he also suggested that Tversky, Amos; Kahneman, Daniel (1981). "The Framing of decisions and the psychology of choice". Science 211 (4481): 453–458.doi:10.1126/science.7455683. PMID 7455683.
might be of interest.