A professor asks students to guess what percent of people in homeless shelters are parents and children. Before you can consider your answer, another student shouts out "about 10%." Your answer may be either higher or lower than it would be otherwise because of

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The anchoring and adjustment heuristic is a cognitive bias that describes the common human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered (the "anchor") when making decisions. In this scenario, the student's shout of "about 10%" serves as an anchor, potentially influencing others to adjust their guesses around this initial figure rather than considering the question independently.

A Professor Asks Students to Guess What Percent of People