1. //
  2. Start
  3. //
  4. Publications
  5. The too-much-precision effect: When and ...
  6. Output formats
  7. //

The too-much-precision effect: When and why precise anchors backfire with experts

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Standard

The too-much-precision effect: When and why precise anchors backfire with experts. / Loschelder, David D.; Friese, Malte; Schaerer, Michael et al.
In: Psychological Science, Vol. 27, No. 12, 12.2016, p. 1573-1587.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Loschelder, DD, Friese, M, Schaerer, M & Galinsky, AD 2016, 'The too-much-precision effect: When and why precise anchors backfire with experts', Psychological Science, vol. 27, no. 12, pp. 1573-1587. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616666074

APA

Loschelder, D. D., Friese, M., Schaerer, M., & Galinsky, A. D. (2016). The too-much-precision effect: When and why precise anchors backfire with experts. Psychological Science, 27(12), 1573-1587. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616666074

Vancouver

Loschelder DD, Friese M, Schaerer M, Galinsky AD. The too-much-precision effect: When and why precise anchors backfire with experts. Psychological Science. 2016 Dec;27(12):1573-1587. doi: 10.1177/0956797616666074

Bibtex

@article{84a43227733644bd91bcb58ef5a435cd,
title = "The too-much-precision effect: When and why precise anchors backfire with experts",
abstract = "Past research has suggested a fundamental principle of price precision: The more precise an opening price, the more it anchors counteroffers. The present research challenges this principle by demonstrating a too-much-precision effect. Five experiments (involving 1,320 experts and amateurs in real-estate, jewelry, car, and human-resources negotiations) showed that increasing the precision of an opening offer had positive linear effects for amateurs but inverted-U-shaped effects for experts. Anchor precision backfired because experts saw too much precision as reflecting a lack of competence. This negative effect held unless first movers gave rationales that boosted experts{\textquoteright} perception of their competence. Statistical mediation and experimental moderation established the critical role of competence attributions. This research disentangles competing theoretical accounts (attribution of competence vs. scale granularity) and qualifies two putative truisms: that anchors affect experts and amateurs equally, and that more precise prices are linearly more potent anchors. The results refine current theoretical understanding of anchoring and have significant implications for everyday life.",
keywords = "Psychology, anchoring, experts versus amateurs, first offers , judgment , negotiation , open data , open materials , precision",
author = "Loschelder, {David D.} and Malte Friese and Michael Schaerer and Galinsky, {Adam D.}",
year = "2016",
month = dec,
doi = "10.1177/0956797616666074",
language = "English",
volume = "27",
pages = "1573--1587",
journal = "Psychological Science",
issn = "0956-7976",
publisher = "SAGE Publications Inc.",
number = "12",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The too-much-precision effect: When and why precise anchors backfire with experts

AU - Loschelder, David D.

AU - Friese, Malte

AU - Schaerer, Michael

AU - Galinsky, Adam D.

PY - 2016/12

Y1 - 2016/12

N2 - Past research has suggested a fundamental principle of price precision: The more precise an opening price, the more it anchors counteroffers. The present research challenges this principle by demonstrating a too-much-precision effect. Five experiments (involving 1,320 experts and amateurs in real-estate, jewelry, car, and human-resources negotiations) showed that increasing the precision of an opening offer had positive linear effects for amateurs but inverted-U-shaped effects for experts. Anchor precision backfired because experts saw too much precision as reflecting a lack of competence. This negative effect held unless first movers gave rationales that boosted experts’ perception of their competence. Statistical mediation and experimental moderation established the critical role of competence attributions. This research disentangles competing theoretical accounts (attribution of competence vs. scale granularity) and qualifies two putative truisms: that anchors affect experts and amateurs equally, and that more precise prices are linearly more potent anchors. The results refine current theoretical understanding of anchoring and have significant implications for everyday life.

AB - Past research has suggested a fundamental principle of price precision: The more precise an opening price, the more it anchors counteroffers. The present research challenges this principle by demonstrating a too-much-precision effect. Five experiments (involving 1,320 experts and amateurs in real-estate, jewelry, car, and human-resources negotiations) showed that increasing the precision of an opening offer had positive linear effects for amateurs but inverted-U-shaped effects for experts. Anchor precision backfired because experts saw too much precision as reflecting a lack of competence. This negative effect held unless first movers gave rationales that boosted experts’ perception of their competence. Statistical mediation and experimental moderation established the critical role of competence attributions. This research disentangles competing theoretical accounts (attribution of competence vs. scale granularity) and qualifies two putative truisms: that anchors affect experts and amateurs equally, and that more precise prices are linearly more potent anchors. The results refine current theoretical understanding of anchoring and have significant implications for everyday life.

KW - Psychology

KW - anchoring

KW - experts versus amateurs

KW - first offers

KW - judgment

KW - negotiation

KW - open data

KW - open materials

KW - precision

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85006110281&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/0956797616666074

DO - 10.1177/0956797616666074

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 27789792

VL - 27

SP - 1573

EP - 1587

JO - Psychological Science

JF - Psychological Science

SN - 0956-7976

IS - 12

ER -

Related by journal

Racial bias in police traffic stops: White residents' county-level prejudice and stereotypes are related to disproportionate stopping of Black drivers

Stelter, M., Essien, I., Sander, C. & Degner, J., 01.04.2022, In: Psychological Science. 33, 4, p. 483-496 14 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

A Multisite Preregistered Paradigmatic Test of the Ego-Depletion Effect

Vohs, K. D., Schmeichel, B. J., Lohmann, S., Gronau, Q. F., Finley, A. J., Ainsworth, S. E., Alquist, J. L., Baker, M. D., Brizi, A., Bunyi, A., Butschek, G. J., Campbell, C., Capaldi, J., Cau, C., Chambers, H., Chatzisarantis, N. L. D., Christensen, W. J., Clay, S. L., Curtis, J., De Cristofaro, V., del Rosario, K., Diel, K., Doğruol, Y., Doi, M., Donaldson, T. L., Eder, A. B., Ersoff, M., Eyink, J. R., Falkenstein, A., Fennis, B. M., Findley, M. B., Finkel, E. J., Forgea, V., Friese, M., Fuglestad, P., Garcia-Willingham, N. E., Geraedts, L. F., Gervais, W. M., Giacomantonio, M., Gibson, B., Gieseler, K., Gineikiene, J., Gloger, E. M., Gobes, C. M., Grande, M., Hagger, M. S., Hartsell, B., Hermann, A. D., Hidding, J. J., Hirt, E. R., Hodge, J., Hofmann, W., Howell, J. L., Hutton, R. D., Inzlicht, M., James, L., Johnson, E., Johnson, H. L., Joyce, S. M., Joye, Y., Kaben, J. H., Kammrath, L. K., Kelly, C. N., Kissell, B. L., Koole, S. L., Krishna, A., Lam, C., Lee, K. T., Lee, N., Leighton, D. C., Loschelder, D. D., Maranges, H. M., Masicampo, E. J., Mazara, K., McCarthy, S., McGregor, I., Mead, N. L., Mendes, W. B., Meslot, C., Michalak, N. M., Milyavskaya, M., Miyake, A., Moeini-Jazani, M., Muraven, M., Nakahara, E., Patel, K., Petrocelli, J. V., Pollak, K. M., Price, M. M., Ramsey, H. J., Rath, M., Robertson, J. A., Rockwell, R., Russ, I. F., Salvati, M., Saunders, B., Scherer, A., Schütz, A., Schmitt, K. N., Segerstrom, S. C., Serenka, B., Sharpinskyi, K., Shaw, M., Sherman, J., Song, Y., Sosa, N., Spillane, K., Stapels, J., Stinnett, A. J., Strawser, H. R., Sweeny, K., Theodore, D., Tonnu, K., van Oldenbeuving, Y., vanDellen, M. R., Vergara, R. C., Walker, J. S., Waugh, C. E., Weise, F., Werner, K. M., Wheeler, C., White, R. A., Wichman, A. L., Wiggins, B. J., Wills, J. A., Wilson, J. H., Wagenmakers, E. J. & Albarracín, D., 10.2021, In: Psychological Science. 32, 10, p. 1566-1581 16 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Learning Novel Skills From Iconic Gestures: A Developmental and Evolutionary Perspective

Bohn, M., Kordt, C., Braun, M., Call, J. & Tomasello, M., 01.07.2020, In: Psychological Science. 31, 7, p. 873-880 8 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Positive Thinking About the Future in Newspaper Reports and Presidential Addresses Predicts Economic Downturn

Sevincer, A. T., Wagner, G., Kalvelage, J. & Oettingen, G., 04.2014, In: Psychological Science. 25, 4, p. 1010-1017 8 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

The First-Mover Disadvantage: The Folly of Revealing Compatible Preferences

Loschelder, D. D., Swaab, R., Trötschel, R. & Galinsky, A. D., 04.2014, In: Psychological Science. 25, 4, p. 954-962 9 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Other publications by the same author(s)

Self-Control Following Prior Exertion: An Empirical Test of the Motivational Shift and Compensatory Effort Hypotheses

Mlynski, C., Roth, L., Loschelder, D. D., Gieseler, K., Job, V. & Friese, M., 30.01.2025, In: Collabra: Psychology. 11, 1, 14 p., 128616.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries

Vlasceanu, M., Doell, K. C., Bak-Coleman, J. B., Todorova, B., Berkebile-Weinberg, M. M., Grayson, S. J., Patel, Y., Goldwert, D., Pei, Y., Chakroff, A., Pronizius, E., Broek, K. L. V. D., Vlasceanu, D., Constantino, S., Morais, M. J., Schumann, P., Rathje, S., Fang, K., Aglioti, S. M., Alfano, M., Alvarado-Yepez, A. J., Andersen, A., Anseel, F., Apps, M. A. J., Asadli, C., Awuor, F. J., Azevedo, F., Basaglia, P., Bélanger, J. J., Berger, S., Bertin, P., Białek, M., Bialobrzeska, O., Blaya-Burgo, M., Bleize, D. N. M., Bø, S., Boecker, L., Boggio, P. S., Borau, S., Bos, B., Bouguettaya, A., Brauer, M., Brick, C., Brik, T., Briker, R., Brosch, T., Buchel, O., Buonauro, D., Butalia, R., Carvacho, H., Chamberlain, S. A. E., Chan, H.-Y., Chow, D., Chung, D., Cian, L., Cohen-Eick, N., Contreras-Huerta, L. S., Contu, D., Cristea, V., Cutler, J., D'Ottone, S., Keersmaecker, J. D., Delcourt, S., Delouvée, S., Diel, K., Douglas, B. D., Drupp, M. A., Dubey, S., Ekmanis, J., Elbaek, C. T., Elsherif, M., Engelhard, I. M., Escher, Y. A., Etienne, T. W., Farage, L., Farias, A. R., Feuerriegel, S., Findor, A., Freira, L., Friese, M., Gains, N. P., Gallyamova, A., Geiger, S. J., Genschow, O., Gjoneska, B., Gkinopoulos, T., Goldberg, B., Goldenberg, A., Gradidge, S., Grassini, S., Gray, K., Grelle, S., Griffin, S. M., Grigoryan, L., Grigoryan, A., Grigoryev, D., Gruber, J., Guilaran, J., Hadar, B., Hahnel, U. J. J., Halperin, E., Harvey, A. J., Haugestad, C. A. P., Herman, A. M., Hershfield, H. E., Himichi, T., Hine, D. W., Hofmann, W., Howe, L., Huaman-Chulluncuy, E. T., Huang, G., Ishii, T., Ito, A., Jia, F., Jost, J. T., Jovanović, V., Jurgiel, D., Kácha, O., Kankaanpää, R., Kantorowicz, J., Kantorowicz-Reznichenko, E., Mintz, K. K., Kaya, I., Kaya, O., Khachatryan, N., Klas, A., Klein, C., Klöckner, C. A., Koppel, L., Kosachenko, A. I., Kothe, E. J., Krebs, R., Krosch, A. R., Krouwel, A. P. M., Kyrychenko, Y., Lagomarsino, M., Lamm, C., Lange, F., Cunningham, J. L., Lees, J., Leung, T. Y., Levy, N., Lockwood, P. L., Longoni, C., Ortega, A. L., Loschelder, D. D., Lu, J. G., Luo, Y., Luomba, J., Lutz, A. E., Majer, J. M., Markowitz, E., Marsh, A. A., Mascarenhas, K. L., Mbilingi, B., Mbungu, W., McHugh, C., Meijers, M. H. C., Mercier, H., Mhagama, F. L., Michalakis, K., Mikus, N., Milliron, S., Mitkidis, P., Monge-Rodríguez, F. S., Mora, Y. L., Moreau, D., Motoki, K., Moyano, M., Mus, M., Navajas, J., Nguyen, T. L., Nguyen, D. M., Nguyen, T., Niemi, L., Nijssen, S. R. R., Nilsonne, G., Nitschke, J. P., Nockur, L., Okura, R., Öner, S., Özdoğru, A. A., Palumbo, H., Panagopoulos, C., Panasiti, M. S., Pärnamets, P., Paruzel-Czachura, M., Pavlov, Y. G., Payán-Gómez, C., Pearson, A. R., Costa, L. P. D., Petrowsky, H. M., Pfattheicher, S., Pham, N. T., Ponizovskiy, V., Pretus, C., Rêgo, G. G., Reimann, R., Rhoads, S. A., Riano-Moreno, J., Richter, I., Röer, J. P., Rosa-Sullivan, J., Ross, R. M., Sabherwal, A., Saito, T., Sarrasin, O., Say, N., Schmid, K., Schmitt, M. T., Schoenegger, P., Scholz, C., Schug, M. G., Schulreich, S., Shreedhar, G., Shuman, E., Sivan, S., Sjåstad, H., Soliman, M., Soud, K., Spampatti, T., Sparkman, G., Spasovski, O., Stanley, S. K., Stern, J. A., Strahm, N., Suko, Y., Sul, S., Syropoulos, S., Taylor, N. C., Tedaldi, E., Tinghög, G., Huynh, L. D. T., Travaglino, G. A., Tsakiris, M., Tüter, İ., Tyrala, M., Uluğ, Ö. M., Urbanek, A., Valko, D., Linden, S. V. D., Schie, K. V., Stekelenburg, A. V., Vanags, E., Västfjäll, D., Vesely, S., Vintr, J., Vranka, M., Wanguche, P. O., Willer, R., Wojcik, A. D., Xu, R., Yadav, A., Zawisza, M., Zhao, X., Zhao, J., Żuk, D. & Bavel, J. J. V., 09.02.2024, In: Science Advances. 10, 6, 19 p., eadj5778.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Defeminizing Sustainability: How to Boost Men’s Motivation for Proenvironmental Behavior

Hällfritzsch, M., Volpi, L., Daniel, K. G., Somogyi, C., Kause, A., Reese, G. & Loschelder, D. D., 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Motivation Science.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Empowered or informed? Seeking to mitigate gender differences in first-offer assertiveness through pre-negotiation interventions

Kokić, E., Wagner, L., García López del Amo, A., Giering, C. L., Ly Truong, V., Petrowsky, H. M., Husen, O. M. & Loschelder, D. D., 01.12.2024, In: Journal of Economic Psychology. 105, 11 p., 102775.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Gender differences in sex drive: Reply to Conley and Yang (2024)

Frankenbach, J., Weber, M., Loschelder, D. D., Kilger, H. & Friese, M., 01.08.2024, In: Psychological Bulletin. 150, 8, p. 1011-1019 9 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. High temperature deformation mechanisms and processing map for hot working of cast-homogenized Mg-3Sn-2Ca alloy
  2. Assessing pre-travel online destination experience values of destination websites
  3. Analysis of life cycle datasets for the material gold
  4. Using Long-Duration Static Stretch Training to Counteract Strength and Flexibility Deficits in Moderately Trained Participants
  5. Compression behavior of typical silicone rubbers for soft robotics applications at elevated temperatures
  6. Exploring intrinsic, instrumental and relational values for sustainable management of social-ecological systems
  7. Intra-firm Wage Compression and Cost Coverage of Training
  8. Using a Bivariate Polynomial in an EKF for State and Inductance Estimations in the Presence of Saturation Effects to Adaptively Control a PMSM
  9. Combination of a reduced order state observer and an Extended Kalman Filter for Peltier cells
  10. Improving Flood Forecasting in a Developing Country
  11. A transfer operator based numerical investigation of coherent structures in three-dimensional Southern ocean circulation
  12. Investigation of the Controllability of Inductive Power Transmission Systems based on Flexible Coils
  13. Confidence levels and likelihood terms in IPCC reports
  14. Optimal scheduling for Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) in blocking job-shops
  15. Natural enemy diversity reduces temporal variability in wasp but not bee parasitism
  16. Unusual two‐bond 13C, 13C coupling constants in sulphones
  17. Elastomeric Prepregs for Soft Robotics Applications
  18. Predicting the future performance of soccer players
  19. Open Innovation in Schools
  20. Testing for a break in the persistence in yield spreads of EMU government bonds
  21. CubeQA—question answering on RDF data cubes
  22. Fluorometer controlled apparatus designed for long-duration algal-feeding experiments and environmental effect studies with mussels
  23. Careless responding detection revisited
  24. Selecting methods for ecosystem service assessment
  25. Integrated simulation method for investment decisions of micro production systems
  26. A duty-block network approach for an integrated driver rostering problem in public bus transport
  27. Diversity promotes temporal stability across levels of ecosystem organization in experimental grasslands
  28. Reduction of springback by use of deep drawing tools with locally and temporally varying stiffness