Therefore, based upon the nature of the openness-to-experience trait and the processes involved in the anchoring and adjustment effect, we hypothesize that individual differences in openness-to-experience will influence susceptibility to anchoring and adjustment effects. Specifically, we hypothesize that the judgments of those individuals high in this trait will be more influenced by previously presented anchors whereas those individuals low in this trait will be less influenced by the anchor.

• To test this hypothesis, we first measured individual levels of the personality trait of openness-to-experience. We then provided participants with an anchoring and adjustment task involving either the Mississippi river (Study 1) or African nations in the UN (Study 2).

SUSCEPTIBILITY TO ANCHORING EFFECTS: HOW SUSCEPTIBILITY TO ANCHORING EFFECTS: HOW OPENNESS-TO-EXPERIENCE INFLUENCES OPENNESS-TO-EXPERIENCE INFLUENCES RESPONSES TO ANCHORING CUESRESPONSES TO ANCHORING CUESKeith Dowd, Keith Dowd, Appalachian State UniversityAppalachian State UniversityDr. Todd McElroy, Dr. Todd McElroy, Appalachian State UniversityAppalachian State University

ABSTRACTABSTRACTPrevious research on anchoring and

adjustment has shown this heuristic to be

a very robust psychological phenomenon

ubiquitous across many domains of human

judgment and decision-making.  Despite

the prevalence of anchoring effects

throughout human decision processes,

researchers have only recently begun to

investigate the underlying factors

responsible for how and in what ways a

person is susceptible to them.  This paper

examines how one such factor, the Big-

Five personality trait of openness-to-

experience, influences the effect of

previously presented anchors on

participants' judgments.  Across two

studies, participants completed the ten-

item personality inventory (TIPI) scale to

assess their level of openness-to-

experience and were then presented with

a traditional anchoring task.  Our findings

indicate that participants high in openness-

to-experience were significantly more

influenced by anchoring cues relative to

participants low in this trait.  These findings

were consistent across two different types

of anchoring tasks providing convergent

evidence for our hypothesis.

BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND PROCEDURE & RESULTSPROCEDURE & RESULTS

We set out to test whether the fifth factor of openness-to-experience, as depicted by McCrae & Costa (1997; 1999), may influence individual sensitivity to anchor cues and in turn, individual judgments. Across two separate tasks involving Mississippi river length estimates (Study 1) and African nation membership in the UN (Study 2) we examined the hypothesis that individuals high in the personality trait of openness-to-experience would be more influenced by a previously presented anchor relative to individuals low in this trait.

We found partial support for this hypothesis. Our findings demonstrated that high openness-to-experience participants were more influenced by high anchoring cues relative to low openness-to-experience participants. However, there was no difference between high and low openness-to-experience participants when a low anchoring cue was presented.

Significant interaction between openness scores and anchor F (1, 191) = 7.72, p < .01.

High openness participants made higher estimates than low openness participants when exposed to a high anchor F (1, 191) = 5.71, p < .05.

There was no difference between high and low openness participants provided with a low anchor F<1.

Significant interaction between openness scores and anchor F (1, 195) = 4.95, p < .05.

High openness participants were significantly more affected by high anchoring cues relative to low openness participants F (1, 195) = 13.1, p < .001.

There was no difference between high openness and low openness participants in their responses to a low anchoring cue F<1.

Participants were presented first with the ten-item personality inventory, otherwise known as TIPI (Gosling, Rentfrow, & Swann, 2003).

Next, participants were presented with a traditional anchoring task involving the Mississippi river (Jacowitz & Kahneman, 1995).

In this task participants were first asked to estimate whether the length of the Mississippi river is more or less than 200 (low anchor condition) or 20,000 (high anchor condition) miles; this initial activity serves as the “anchor”.

Participants were then asked to estimate the exact length of the Mississippi river.

All participants were then informed about the nature of our study. They were then debriefed about the purpose of the experiment, thanked, and released from the study.

HypothesisHypothesis

Study 1 ResultsStudy 1 ResultsStudy 1 ProcedureStudy 1 Procedure Anchoring and adjustment (e.g., Lichtenstein & Slovic, 1971; Tversky &

Kahneman, 1974; Wilson, Houston, Etling, & Brekke, 1996) refers to adjustment of one’s assessment, either higher or lower, based upon previously presented external information or an “anchor”. The anchoring and adjustment heuristic appears to be prevalent throughout human decision processes and has been shown to reliably influence judgments in a variety of domains.

The fifth factor is oftentimes labeled openness to experience, which refers to an individual’s propensity to adjust their beliefs and behaviors when exposed to new types of information or ideas (John, 1990). Individuals scoring high on this dimension are more open to new ideas (McCrae, 1987) and motivated to seek variety and external experience. Individuals scoring low tend to be less inclined to consider alternative opinions and are more steadfast in their own beliefs (John, 1990) making them more likely to rely upon information that is familiar and conventional (McCrae & Costa, 1997).

A fundamental aspect of the anchoring effect is that individuals are sensitive to information which they have experienced. The adjustment of opinion and reliance on external cues seems particularly relevant and related to the openness-to-experience personality trait. Specifically, as research has shown, the openness trait reflects individual propensities to “adjust” one’s beliefs (John, 1990) and to consider external information (McCrae, 1987).

CONCLUSION CONCLUSION For more information,

email KD57363@appstate.edu

Participants were presented with the ten-item personality inventory, otherwise known as TIPI (Gosling, Rentfrow, & Swann, 2003).

After completing the scale, participants were presented with the African nations anchoring and adjustment task (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974).

In this task, we first asked participants whether the percentage of African nations which are members of the United Nations is more or less than 85 (high anchor condition) or 25 (low anchor condition).

We then asked participants to estimate the exact percentage of African nations.

All participants were then informed about the nature of our study. They were then debriefed about the purpose of the experiment, thanked, and released from the study.

Participants were first presented with the TIPI Big-5 personality scale.

Next, we asked participants to either estimate the exact percentage of African nations in the UN or to estimate the length of the Mississippi river. No anchor was provided.

Finally, all participants were then debriefed about the purpose of the experiment, thanked, and released from the study.

Study 3 ProcedureStudy 3 Procedure Study 3 ResultsStudy 3 Results

Study 2 ResultsStudy 2 ResultsStudy 2 ProcedureStudy 2 Procedure

Average estimate as a function of openness to experience and anchor

Anchor

High Low

Openness

High 10,021.30 6,876.02

Low 698.50 1,372.00

Average estimate as a function of openness to experience and anchor

AnchorHigh Low

OpennessHigh 43.5 25.3Low 33.7 33.7