Perceptual and Cognitive Judgments Show Both Anchoring and Repulsion. (September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Spicer, Jake; Zhu, Jian-Qiao; Chater, Nick; Sanborn, Adam N.
• Is Part Of: Psychological science. Volume 33:Number 9(2022)
• Page Start: 1395
• Page End: 1407
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Subjects: decision-making -- judgment -- anchoring -- repulsion -- cognitive biases -- open data -- open materials -- preregistered; Psychology -- Periodicals; 150.5
• DOI: 10.1177/09567976221089599
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0956-7976

Abstract

One of the most robust effects in cognitive psychology is anchoring, in which judgments show a bias toward previously viewed values. However, in what is essentially the same task as used in anchoring research, a perceptual illusion demonstrates the opposite effect of repulsion . Here, we united these two literatures, testing in two experiments with adults (total N = 200) whether prior comparative decisions bias cognitive and perceptual judgments in opposing directions or whether anchoring and repulsion are two domain-general biases whose co-occurrence has so far gone undetected. We found that in both perceptual and cognitive tasks, anchoring and repulsion co-occur. Further, the direction of the bias depends on the comparison value: Distant values attract judgments, whereas nearby values repulse judgments. Because none of the leading theories for either effect account for both biases, theoretical integration is needed. As a starting point, we describe one such joint theory based on sampling models of cognition.