STUDIES - Tversky and Kahneman (1974) Flashcards
1
Q
Aim
A
- To demonstrate how the anchoring bias affects students when solving a maths problem
2
Q
Procedure
A
SAMPLE
- High school students
STEPS
Participants were allocated to 2 groups:
- Group 1 (ascending condition): Participants were asked to estimate the value of 1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8 in 5 seconds
- Group 2 (descending condition): Participants were asked to estimate the value of 8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1 in 5 seconds
3
Q
Results
A
- Group 1 (ascending condition): Median was 512
- Group 2 (descending condition): Median was 2250
- Actual value: 40320
- Group 2 had a median 4 times higher than group 1
4
Q
Findings
A
- Since we read left to right, group 1 used “1” as an anchor and estimated a lower value than the group that started with “8” as the anchor
- First number seen biases the estimate of the value by participant
5
Q
Strengths
A
- High replicability: Very simple experiment that allows us to establish the reliability of the results
- High internal validity: The study was highly controlled as results were quantitative and easy to calculate, and it can be inferred that anchor was cause of estimates by students (cause-and-effect relationship)
- Use of median: Researchers used median to report the data, allowing them to diminish the influence of outliers
6
Q
Limitations
A
- Low ecological validity: The situation is very artificial, as it is unrealistic to be given only 5 seconds to estimate the value of something
- Application of findings: Questionable to what extent they can be applied
- Low internal validity: Participant variability may have influenced the results due to the design used (independent samples), it would have been better to use matched pairs design to have 2 groups with an equal level of maths