⚓ THE ANCHORING EFFECT
What is that? It's when the first number—or first piece of information—gets stuck in your head.
Imagine you're shopping for a jacket. You see a price tag of $300. Then you discover it's on sale for $180
Your brain may immediately register: “Wow. I'm saving $120!”
What if you had walked into the store and simply seen the jacket priced at $180 in the first place? You might have thought: “That's a pretty expensive jacket.”
Same jacket.
Same $180.
Very different psychological experience.
That's the Anchoring Effect.
What, exactly, is it?
The Anchoring Effect is a cognitive bias in which we rely too heavily on an initial piece of information when making subsequent judgments or decisions. That initial information becomes an anchor. Once it's in place, our brains may adjust away from it—but often not as much as they should.
In plain English: The first number—or first piece of information—can become the reference point for everything that follows.
🧠 The weird part
The anchor doesn't have to be accurate. It doesn't even have to be relevant. Once an anchor is established, it can influence our judgment simply because it's the starting point our brain has been given.
So, imagine someone tells you: “This painting is worth $10,000.” Later, you're asked what you think it's worth. That $10,000 figure may influence your estimate—even if you know absolutely nothing about the painting.
Now imagine someone else was first told: “This painting is worth $1,000.” They may arrive at a very different estimate.
Same painting.
Different starting point.
💰 Where this gets really interesting
Anchoring is everywhere. Shopping: “Regularly $199.99—now only $99.99!”
The original price becomes the anchor.
Negotiation:
The first number put on the table can influence the rest of the discussion.Real estate:
The asking price can become a reference point for what buyers consider reasonable.Salary negotiations:
An initial salary figure can influence the range people consider acceptable.Everyday decisions:
Even an early piece of information can shape how we interpret everything we learn afterward.And here's the sneaky part: We may feel as though we're making a completely independent judgment, but our starting point may already be influencing where we end up.
🐇 The Rabbit Hole
What happens when the anchor is wrong? Suppose somebody tells you: “This house should be worth about $600,000.” You spend the next hour looking at the house, the neighbourhood, the renovations and the market. You're gathering information. You're thinking critically. But that $600,000 figure is already sitting quietly in the back of your mind. You may adjust away from it. But you may still adjust from it. And that raises a bigger question:
How much of our judgment is actually independent—and how much is simply adjustment from where we started?
Try This:
The next time you see: “Was $200. Now $89!” Pause before you decide you've found a bargain. Ask: “If I had never seen the $200 price, what would I think this was worth?” Or when someone gives you an opinion before you've formed your own: “What would I think if I hadn't heard that first?”
And perhaps the most useful question: “What is my reference point—and who put it there?”
Why? Well, because sometimes the anchor isn't just a number. It can be an opinion. A first impression. A label. A prediction. A diagnosis. A story about someone. A belief about ourselves.
And once it's dropped into the water, it can be surprisingly difficult to pull up. ⚓
That's the Anchoring Effect.
There's a name for that?
You've probably noticed some of these behaviours. You just may not have known what to call them.
Curious about the psychology behind the things we do?
Author • CLC • CBT Practitioner
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