Self-Threat and the Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic

Since its introduction in 1974, the anchoring and adjustment heuristic has been a topic of interest within the field of decision making. Although much work has examined factors that affect the process of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic, very little has been studied about how self-processes that may influence adjustment from an anchor. More specifically, the role of self-threat as a possible motivating factor in the adjustment process had yet to be explored. In my previous research, I explored how anchors that are threatening or flattering to one’s ingroup influences how they adjust from said anchor. Participants adjusted to an estimate that most positively reflected their ingroup, so in Studies 1A and 1B, I used similar designs to explore the role of individual self-threat in the anchoring and adjustment process. I found evidence that suggested self-threat may play a role in how individuals adjust self-threatening anchor. To examine how self-threat influences this heuristic more closely, I exposed participants to self-affirmation (Study 2) and psychological awe (Study 3) inductions to attempt to buffer this effect as both self-affirmations and psychological awe have been found to mitigate self-threat. Neither self-affirmation nor psychological awe significantly buffered the effect of self-threat on adjustment behavior. Although I was not able to find evidence that adjustment from an anchor is motivated by whether the anchor is threatening to the self, exploratory analyses suggest that adjustment from an anchor may be affected by how threatened an individual feels.