Anchoring bias

In one line: The first number we see drags our judgement towards it — even when it's irrelevant.

Anchoring bias is a cognitive-approach term. Once an anchor is set, we adjust away from it — but usually not far enough. It is a clear case of the concept of bias.

A £200 jumper marked down to £80 feels cheap; the same jumper first seen at £80 feels ordinary. The starting figure — the anchor — shifts what seems reasonable, without us noticing.

Memory hook: First number sticks. We anchor to it and don't drift far enough away.

Key idea: An anchor is a starting point; we adjust from it, but the adjustment is usually too small, so the anchor still shapes the final judgement.

Take negotiating a used car. If the seller opens at £9,000, the buyer's counter-offer and final price sit higher than if the seller had opened at £6,000 — even for the same car. The opening figure anchored the whole negotiation. This is the concept of bias at work.

Go further — higher-level insight: Anchors work even when they're obviously random. Studies show people's estimates shift towards a number they know was produced by a spin of a wheel. That is what makes anchoring such striking evidence that judgement is not purely rational.

Key idea: Anchoring is robust and practically important, but its size depends on context and expertise.

So anchoring is a strong, well-replicated bias with clear real-world uses (and misuses, like inflated 'original' prices), but a good evaluation notes it varies in strength and is more a reliable pattern than a complete theory of why.

Watch out: Awareness isn't enough. Simply knowing about anchoring doesn't remove it. The better defence is generating your own estimate first, before you see anyone else's number.