ANCHORING BIAS - affects decision-making processes and occurs when people rely too heavily on either pre-existing information or the first piece of information (anchor) when making a decision (APA Dictionary).

How Anchoring Bias Works in Life:

In the United States, around 14 million cars are sold yearly, meaning approximately thirty-eight thousand vehicles are purchased daily. That’s roughly thirty-eight thousand people daily who must deal with the anchoring bias. When you walk onto a car lot, a sticker on the window or marking on the windshield provides you with the vehicle’s total price. As a buyer, you are mentally anchored to that price point when you see that number. If you don’t recognize that number as an anchor, you will set plans and interpret all new information from that anchor point instead of seeing it objectively as the “initial asking price.” The “free dealer upgrades, oil changes, additional warranties, cleaning services, etc.” to sweeten “the deal” are all considered in the “initial asking price.” But the anchor makes you feel good about making the deal because you got $3,000 off the “initial asking price,” not realizing that the dealer still made at least $3,000 off the car and possibly an additional $3,000 because you went with their in-house financing.

When people hear an initial anchor, they adjust their attitudes and decisions, even if they are wrong. This can disproportionately impact people’s final choices, leading to biased or unfortunate decisions.

Anchoring Bias in the Bible: 1 Samuel 17

Undeterred by Saul’s formality and kingly appearance, David was just as confident on the battlefield as he was in the shepherd’s field. But first, he had to deal with the mental anchors of King Saul found in 1 Samuel 17:33 & 1 Samuel 17:38:

• Usefulness Comes with Age

• Experience Equals Success

• To Be a Warrior, You Must Look Like a Warrior

Saul was anchored in his thinking about what brings usefulness and success. He’d stepped away from faith in God and relied solely on pre-existing information when making a decision. That narrowed his thinking and was keeping him from breakthrough. But he wasn’t the only one.

“When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a youth (Usefulness comes with age), healthy (He didn’t have the body of a seasoned warrior, Experience Equals Success), and handsome (To be a warrior you must look like a warrior).

The anchors preventing Israel’s breakthrough are what led to the arrogant downfall of their enemies once David’s faith broke through the mental barricades. Sometimes the lies Satan uses to keep you from moving forward are the same bits of information he uses to encourage the arrogant to whom he’s manipulating to crush you.

Anchoring Bias in the Church or Christian Non-Profit: Language & Action

One congregation voted against a change in governance because they had a pre-existing negative connotation of a word used in the proposal. The word was “elders.” However, by changing the language to “Spiritual Leaders,” a definition of the word “Elders,” they didn’t have a problem with the shift in their governing practice. That anchor was significant enough to prevent them from progressing, but the leadership navigated around it.

A non-profit hired a new executive director to help them turn the organization around. The former ED shared with an employee that the new ED tended to clean out upper-level employees within the first six months. Therefore, the new ED stepped into the role with people in a state of panic and agitation because they had incorrectly anchored themselves to inaccurate information, thereby slowing progress and creating an initial undercurrent of conflict.  

Leading Others to Work Through Their Anchors

1. Pray for wisdom to recognize the unseen warfare happening in people’s lives.  Grow sensitive to the reality that information may be perceived differently in another person’s mind never assume everyone is thinking like you.

2. Consider an Expectations Board for Your Meetings.  Before a meeting starts, Create 3 Lists:

   • What are your desired outcomes for this meeting?

   • How can this help us short and long term?  

   • What are you concerned about?

3. Provide additional “anchors” for people to consider.  By giving them multiple options or reference points rather than one, you slowly broaden that person’s perspective and encourage them to consider a range of possibilities.

4. Help them to question the validity of their initial anchor and its relevance.

5. Provide other sources of information.  Providing additional data can help shift the person’s focus away from the initial anchor and toward more objective factors.

6. Delay decision-making:  By taking a break between decision-making reduces the influence of the original anchor.  

Tool to help reveal an unreasonable Unconscious bias

1. Identify the primary bias and avoid the superficial issues by using “The Five Whys” (Sakichi Toyoda, 1930) in your meeting

2. Channel your inner toddler and genuinely as at least five “Why?” questions with an inquisitive tone.

3. Avoid smirking, sarcasm, or cynicism.  Adopt a tone of complete acceptance and curiosity.

4. Avoid the distractions of the initial answers and keep digging until you discover the root reason preventing someone from moving to the next logical step.

5. Once you’ve identified the root cause, use steps 3 through 6 above to help the individual move past the anchor that may be preventing them from moving forward with meaningful progress. 

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