托福口语 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 often adjusted insufficiently, leading to skewed outcomes. This bias can affect various domains, such as pricing, negotiations, and even personal judgments. Understanding anchoring helps explain why people make seemingly irrational choices based on irrelevant starting points.

Professor: Let me illustrate anchoring bias with a simple experiment. In a class, I asked students to write down the last two digits of their student ID numbers. Then I showed them a bottle of wine and asked, 'Would you pay this amount for the wine?' Each student compared their number to the price. Those with high digits, like 85, said yes to a price of $80, while those with low digits, like 15, said no at $80. Later, I asked each student to write their maximum willingness to pay. Students with high anchors bid around $65 on average, while those with low anchors bid only about $20. The initial irrelevant number—their ID—served as an anchor, and they adjusted from it, proving the bias.