Anchoring

What is anchoring?

• Individuals will adjust to anchor when making decisions
• Anchor is a previously considered number, like an initially offered value
• Key question: in what context is there anchoring bias?
• Consideration of culture, gender, personality, and mood

Culture- Communication

• Low cultural context countries= verbal communication
• High cultural context countries= message bound to implicit context
• Low cultural context= hard line approach
• High cultural context= problem-solving approach

Culture- Anchoring

• Problem solving approach= collectivism=susceptibility to anchoring
• Hard line approach= self-interested=less susceptibility to anchoring

Gender

• One study found some evidence of gender differences
• Women guessed a median of R$1M
• Men guessed a median of R$1.5M
• However, there was no significant difference 

Could gender differences be found?

• Women and initial offers
• Women and aggressiveness in negotiations
• Women and pre-negotiation expectations
• However, we shouldn't perpetuate gender stereotypes

Highly Susceptible Personality Traits

• Introverted individuals
• Highly agreeable individuals
• Highly conscientious individuals
• Individuals that are highly open-to-experience

Unaffected Personality Traits

• Extroverted individuals
• Individuals that are resolute in their beliefs

Mood & Decision Making

• Happy moods = increases judgmental bias
• Sad moods = reductions in judgmental bias

Mood & Anchoring

• Happy moods = less prone to anchoring bias
• Sad moods = more prone to anchoring bias
• Mood may not influence anchoring in experts

Conclusion

• Anchoring bias affects several characteristics
• Cultural background, gender, personality, and mood
• Results are informative, but not conclusive