Anchoring Biases

Question 1

Anchoring or focalism

Answer 1

The tendency to rely too heavily, or “anchor”, on one trait or piece of information when making decisions (usually the first piece of information acquired on that subject).

Question 2

Conservatism bias

belief revision

Answer 2

The tendency to revise one’s belief insufficiently when presented with new evidence.

Question 3

Functional fixedness

Answer 3

Limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used.

Question 4

Law of the instrument

Answer 4

An over-reliance on a familiar tool or methods, ignoring or under-valuing alternative approaches. “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

Question 5

Anchoring (cognitive bias)

Answer 5

Anchoring or focalism is a cognitive bias where an individual depends too heavily on an initial piece of information offered (considered to be the “anchor”) to make subsequent judgments during decision making. Once the value of this anchor is set, all future negotiations, arguments, estimates, etc. are discussed in relation to the anchor. Information that aligns with the anchor tends to be assimilated toward it, while information that is more dissonant or less related tends to be displaced. This bias occurs when interpreting future information using this anchor to gauge.