When Strategies Go Awry: Part 2 in a Series on Cognitive Biases and Their Impact

By Laura A. Frase Anchoring Effect: "Draggin the Line"1 in Litigation and Negotiation One of the most well researched cognitive bias is the Anchoring Effect; "the human tendency to adjust judgments or assessments higher or lower based on previously disclosed external information - the anchor."2 This mental short-cut involves starting with an initial known number or information (explicitly or implicitly conveyed) and then adjusting to generate the final answer for which we are searching. Once we believe we have reached the realm of a plausible answer, we stop adjusting from the initial reference point. For example, we want to purchase a quart of cream. We know the price of a quart of milk so we adjust from that number to estimate the cost of the same amount of cream. If we want to buy a particular car, we may recall prices for similar makes and models and use those numbers to estimate the cost of the car we want to purchase. The numbers or information we start with and use as comparisons are anchors.
Source: LexisNexis® Mealey's™ Emerging Toxic Torts Legal News - Category: Medical Law Source Type: news