The Experimental Study About The Impact Of Need For Cognitive Closure And Forewarning On Anchoring Effect

Anchoring effect is a phenomenon that people’s judgment and decision-making results arebiased towards the initial anchor, especially in uncertain situations. We have three standardmethods to classify the anchor types. Anchor value can be classified as low anchor and highanchor according to its low or high value. Anchor value also can be classified as plausibleanchor and implausible anchor according to its credibility. Additionally, anchor value also canbe classified as experimenter-provided anchor and self-generated anchor according to itsoriginal sources. The study paradigm of anchoring effect is divided into the traditionalanchoring paradigm and basic anchoring paradigm. The anchoring effect occurs when peoplemake decisions and it would inevitably be affected by individual differences. Need forcognitive closure is generally considered to be a human stable cognitive characteristic. It isa variable with a rich predictive capability in decision-making. Individuals high in need forcognitive closure desire for a firm answer to a question and an aversion toward ambiguity. Theytend to use heuristics to make decisions and are more likely to base their final judgments onearly information that facilitates quick closure while neglecting later information.The research is conducted under the condition of plausible anchor and implausible anchorwhich attempts to explore the impact of need for cognitive closure on anchoring effect withbasic anchoring paradigm and to further explore whether the forewarning instruction can affectthe happening of anchoring effect on individuals high in need for cognitive closure andindividuals low in need for cognitive closure.First the research got needed anchor value through preparatory test. And then fourexperiments were conducted. Experiment1and experiment3indicated that both plausibleanchor and implausible anchor would produce anchoring effect. And individuals high in needfor cognitive closure were more easily affected by anchoring effect. The results of experiment2and experiment4indicated that forewarning didn’t affect the happening of anchoring effect onindividuals high in need for cognitive closure and individuals low in need for cognitive closurewhen plausible anchor was used. On the contrary, forewarning affected the happening ofanchoring effect on individuals high in need for cognitive closure and individuals low in needfor cognitive closure when implausible anchor was used.