TY - JOUR

T1 - Anchoring and Sleep Inertia

T2 - Sleep Inertia during Nighttime Awakening Does Not Magnify the Anchoring Bias

AU - Frech, Marie-Lena

AU - Häusser, Jan Alexander

AU - Siems, Marie Carolin

AU - Loschelder, David D.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Hogrefe Publishing GmbH. All rights reserved.

PY - 2022/5/1

Y1 - 2022/5/1

N2 - Many occupational settings require individuals to make important decisions immediately after awakening. Although a plethora of psychological research has separately examined both sleep and anchoring effects on decision-making, little is known about their interaction. In the present study, we seek to shed light on the link between sleep inertia, the performance impairment immediately after awakening, and individuals' susceptibility to the anchoring bias. We proposed that sleep inertia would moderate participants' adjustment from anchors because sleep inertia leads to less cognitive effort invested, resulting in a stronger anchoring effect. One hundred four subjects were randomly assigned to an experimental group that answered anchoring tasks immediately after being awakened at nighttime or a control group that answered anchoring tasks at daytime. Our findings replicated the well-established anchoring effect in that higher anchors led participants to higher estimates than lower anchors. We did not find significant effects of sleep inertia. While the sleep inertia group reported greater sleepiness and having invested less cognitive effort compared to the control group, no systematic anchoring differences emerged, and cognitive effort did not qualify as a mediator of the anchoring effect. Bayesian analyses provide empirical evidence for these null findings. Implications for the anchoring literature and future research are discussed.

AB - Many occupational settings require individuals to make important decisions immediately after awakening. Although a plethora of psychological research has separately examined both sleep and anchoring effects on decision-making, little is known about their interaction. In the present study, we seek to shed light on the link between sleep inertia, the performance impairment immediately after awakening, and individuals' susceptibility to the anchoring bias. We proposed that sleep inertia would moderate participants' adjustment from anchors because sleep inertia leads to less cognitive effort invested, resulting in a stronger anchoring effect. One hundred four subjects were randomly assigned to an experimental group that answered anchoring tasks immediately after being awakened at nighttime or a control group that answered anchoring tasks at daytime. Our findings replicated the well-established anchoring effect in that higher anchors led participants to higher estimates than lower anchors. We did not find significant effects of sleep inertia. While the sleep inertia group reported greater sleepiness and having invested less cognitive effort compared to the control group, no systematic anchoring differences emerged, and cognitive effort did not qualify as a mediator of the anchoring effect. Bayesian analyses provide empirical evidence for these null findings. Implications for the anchoring literature and future research are discussed.

KW - adjustment

KW - anchoring

KW - cognitive effort

KW - sleep inertia

KW - sleepiness

KW - Business psychology

KW - Management studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140271224&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/5b8997ad-fc71-386d-9acf-f2148d720bdd/

U2 - 10.1027/1618-3169/a000552

DO - 10.1027/1618-3169/a000552

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 36255063

AN - SCOPUS:85140271224

VL - 69

SP - 146

EP - 154

JO - Experimental Psychology

JF - Experimental Psychology

SN - 1618-3169

IS - 3

ER -