Tuesday 27 January 2009

Anchoring



Cognitive psychologists have shown that many people anchor their decision-making on a single quantity. It is sometimes called focusing. A typical example is to focus on the odometer reading when buying a second hand car. Or perhaps price. Any decision may involve "focusing" to the detriment of assessing a wide range of factors and possible outcomes.
Interactive Democracy will benefit from many media channels expressing a wide range of view points in order to counteract any excessive focusing.
As anchoring can effect anyone, including professional politicians, widening the debate among a diverse population with a spectrum of experiences may result in better decisions, by having many different anchors.

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