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A starting number can pull an estimate toward it

Classic anchoring research used a comparison followed by a numerical judgment, making the starting point part of the task. A difference between groups does not show that every participant moved by the same amount or that every kind of estimate responds identically.

5–7 min

Questions you could explore

  • What would make a starting number informative rather than merely influential?
  • How could a study test whether an irrelevant starting number shifts later estimates?

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Psychology

Can an option nobody wants change what people choose?

Choosing between two offers can feel different when a third appears beside them. A decoy is less attractive than one option on the relevant features, but its presence does not reliably change every decision.

5–7 min

Can an option nobody wants change what people choose?

Psychology5–7 minChoosing between two offers can feel different when a third appears beside them. A decoy is less attractive than one option on the relevant features, but its presence does not reliably change every decision.

How can you miss something that is right in front of you?

Psychology3–5 minLooking at a scene does not mean noticing everything in it. When attention is occupied by one task, something plainly visible can go unreported, a pattern called inattentional blindness.

Psychology

When a question reshapes a memory

Research on eyewitness reports separates what someone originally saw from information introduced afterward, making wording part of the evidence problem.

3–7 min

When a question reshapes a memory

Psychology3–7 minResearch on eyewitness reports separates what someone originally saw from information introduced afterward, making wording part of the evidence problem.

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