Judgment in the presence of multiple conflicting anchors
In uncertain environments, individuals often use external cues to guide their judgments and decisions. Anchoring refers to the finding that numerical judgments often gravitate towards previously considered standards. Although an extremely robust effect, prior research on anchoring largely focused on...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Acta Psychologica |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691824005249 |
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| _version_ | 1841545583527985152 |
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| author | Michael T. Bixter Christian C. Luhmann |
| author_facet | Michael T. Bixter Christian C. Luhmann |
| author_sort | Michael T. Bixter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In uncertain environments, individuals often use external cues to guide their judgments and decisions. Anchoring refers to the finding that numerical judgments often gravitate towards previously considered standards. Although an extremely robust effect, prior research on anchoring largely focused on single-anchor paradigms. The present study instead investigated how multiple anchors affect numerical judgments. In Experiment 1, participants exposed to both a low and high anchor provided judgments that were between judgments made by participants exposed solely to low or high anchors. However, anchors that were encountered first exerted a disproportionate influence on subsequent judgments. Experiment 2 replicated this primacy effect both when anchors were plausible or implausible standards. Finally, Experiment 3 demonstrated that this primacy effect was reduced to non-significance by inserting a secondary distraction task following the exposure to each anchor. Implications of the current multiple-anchor results for various theories of anchoring effects are discussed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5c55498356194069a6e76365e28db7ae |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0001-6918 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Psychologica |
| spelling | doaj-art-5c55498356194069a6e76365e28db7ae2025-01-12T05:23:56ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182025-02-01252104646Judgment in the presence of multiple conflicting anchorsMichael T. Bixter0Christian C. Luhmann1Montclair State University, United States of America; Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ 07043, United States of America.Stony Brook University, United States of AmericaIn uncertain environments, individuals often use external cues to guide their judgments and decisions. Anchoring refers to the finding that numerical judgments often gravitate towards previously considered standards. Although an extremely robust effect, prior research on anchoring largely focused on single-anchor paradigms. The present study instead investigated how multiple anchors affect numerical judgments. In Experiment 1, participants exposed to both a low and high anchor provided judgments that were between judgments made by participants exposed solely to low or high anchors. However, anchors that were encountered first exerted a disproportionate influence on subsequent judgments. Experiment 2 replicated this primacy effect both when anchors were plausible or implausible standards. Finally, Experiment 3 demonstrated that this primacy effect was reduced to non-significance by inserting a secondary distraction task following the exposure to each anchor. Implications of the current multiple-anchor results for various theories of anchoring effects are discussed.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691824005249AnchoringJudgmentHeuristicsPrimacy effectsAnchor plausibilityMultiple anchors |
| spellingShingle | Michael T. Bixter Christian C. Luhmann Judgment in the presence of multiple conflicting anchors Acta Psychologica Anchoring Judgment Heuristics Primacy effects Anchor plausibility Multiple anchors |
| title | Judgment in the presence of multiple conflicting anchors |
| title_full | Judgment in the presence of multiple conflicting anchors |
| title_fullStr | Judgment in the presence of multiple conflicting anchors |
| title_full_unstemmed | Judgment in the presence of multiple conflicting anchors |
| title_short | Judgment in the presence of multiple conflicting anchors |
| title_sort | judgment in the presence of multiple conflicting anchors |
| topic | Anchoring Judgment Heuristics Primacy effects Anchor plausibility Multiple anchors |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691824005249 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT michaeltbixter judgmentinthepresenceofmultipleconflictinganchors AT christiancluhmann judgmentinthepresenceofmultipleconflictinganchors |