TOEFL Speaking Task 3

In psychology, the concept of 'anchoring bias' refers to the tendency for individuals to rely too heavily on an initial piece of information (the 'anchor') when making decisions. Once an anchor is set, subsequent judgments are made by adjusting away from that anchor, but adjustments are often insufficient, leading to biased outcomes. This bias can influence everyday decisions, such as estimating prices, negotiating salaries, or even judging the value of consumer goods. Anchoring bias is particularly strong when the anchor is salient or when the decision-maker is uncertain about the correct answer.

Professor: Let me give you a real example from a study. In the study, participants were shown a product—a bottle of wine—and first asked to write down the last two digits of their social security number. Then, they were asked to estimate the price of the wine. Interestingly, those with higher two-digit numbers (say, 85) estimated the wine to cost around $85, while those with lower numbers (like 20) estimated it at only $20. In reality, the wine's actual retail price was about $35. Even though the social security number was completely unrelated to the wine, it served as an anchor. Participants adjusted their estimates from that initial number, but they didn't adjust enough. So, the group with the high anchor overestimated, and the group with the low anchor underestimated. This clearly demonstrates how a random, irrelevant number can skew our judgment.