Power increases anchoring effects on judgment
Power increases anchoring effects on judgment
Four experiments test the impact of power (versus powerlessness) on anchoring effects. Anchoring refers to the tendency to assimilate one's judgment to a previously considered numeric standard. Based on the notion that power facilitates the activation of and reliance on accessible information, we hypothesized that power increases numeric anchoring effects on judgment, compared to powerlessness. Across studies, we found consistent support for this idea, when testing estimations of factual values (Experiments 1 and 2), subjective evaluations (Experiment 3), and negotiation behavior (Experiment 4). The findings of Studies 2 to 4 qualify the dominant idea in power literature that power reduces conformity to others' opinion. Power increases conformity to others' opinion, if such opinion is presented as an anchor and therefore processed more automatically. These findings also have important methodological implications for power research. They show that differences in stimulus presentation can steer observed effects of power in opposite directions.
40-53
Lammers, Joris
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Burgmer, Pascal
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1 February 2017
Lammers, Joris
2ccc6d72-5266-48bf-8229-bc6b86efc2ac
Burgmer, Pascal
c8c43b56-572c-4242-800c-9f44ff648cec
Lammers, Joris and Burgmer, Pascal
(2017)
Power increases anchoring effects on judgment.
Social Cognition, 35 (1), .
(doi:10.1521/soco.2017.35.1.40).
Abstract
Four experiments test the impact of power (versus powerlessness) on anchoring effects. Anchoring refers to the tendency to assimilate one's judgment to a previously considered numeric standard. Based on the notion that power facilitates the activation of and reliance on accessible information, we hypothesized that power increases numeric anchoring effects on judgment, compared to powerlessness. Across studies, we found consistent support for this idea, when testing estimations of factual values (Experiments 1 and 2), subjective evaluations (Experiment 3), and negotiation behavior (Experiment 4). The findings of Studies 2 to 4 qualify the dominant idea in power literature that power reduces conformity to others' opinion. Power increases conformity to others' opinion, if such opinion is presented as an anchor and therefore processed more automatically. These findings also have important methodological implications for power research. They show that differences in stimulus presentation can steer observed effects of power in opposite directions.
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Published date: 1 February 2017
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Local EPrints ID: 479601
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/479601
ISSN: 0278-016X
PURE UUID: 4a6e37ff-eae7-4c1f-b59b-fc36e465adae
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Date deposited: 26 Jul 2023 16:40
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:15
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Author:
Joris Lammers
Author:
Pascal Burgmer
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