Comments on: Whatever you anchor on, influences later decisions

By: Dan J

Dan J — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:45:46 +0000

Yeah, it’s a tough one. Some people will already have more information, and will throw the data points off as well.

How about using the “last two digits” thing to get an anchor for them, then have them pick a random number from 0 to 99. Let’s see how many of them choose permutations of their anchor, or whether the choices cluster around the anchor.

0 0 (0)

By: jthibeault

jthibeault — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:50:13 +0000

I think that’s actually advantageous in the experiment because the wholly irrationally derived numbers serve as anchors just as much as ones that are already in your head by knowing about, say, prices for wireless keyboards. In fact, I’d say knowing anything about market values for the objects would help to pollute the data. The second experiment, with paying the participants for certain jobs, would be more free of these potential data-skews.

0 0 (0)

By: Dan J

Dan J — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:28:09 +0000

I’m not terribly fond of one part of the experiment:

Then they were asked to write whether they would pay that amount (e.g $43) for each product by writing yes or no next to each product. Finally they were asked write the maximum amount they would pay for each product.

Asking people to assign a dollar value to a product they know almost nothing about is very disingenuous, in my opinion. I, for one, certainly wouldn’t purchase a bottle of wine or a computer component without knowing some details about it. Among those details would be the prevailing price. I don’t ever fall into the, “What is it worth to you?” trap.

I think that the anchor does little more in this case than to simply put the idea of a number into the person’s head (not unlike telling someone not to think of the number 27). I don’t think it has much to do with the person’s actual idea of the worth the products listed.

Then again, I’m attempting to approach it in a rational, analytical manner. What happens to the people who aren’t rational, and don’t analyze their decisions? I suppose they might become zealous christians or animal rights activists.

0 0 (0)