• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.77-93
• /
• 2022

Previous studies have reported that a plausible reference point has a greater anchoring effect than an extreme reference point. It is also known that the anchoring effect decreases when the individual's level of knowledge related to a given item is high. However, there has been no study examining the interaction of the plausibility of the reference point and the difficulty of the given question. Therefore, in this study, the effect of the reference plausibility and the difficulty of the questions on the anchoring effect were examined. The relationship between the response confidence and the anchoring effect was also examined. To do so, easy and difficult questions, plausible and extreme reference points were selected through preliminary research. The experiment was conducted following the 'standard anchoring task procedure'. As results, the extremity of the reference point and the difficulty of the question affected the size of the anchoring effect respectively. The difficulty of the question also affected the confidence of the response. Specifically, when a plausible reference point was presented and when a difficult question was presented, the anchoring effects were increased. In addition, the lower the confidence in one's performances, the greater the influence of the reference point when an extreme reference point was presented. These results show that the plausibility of the given reference point and the difficulty of the item have different effects on the magnitude of the anchoring effect and the degree of confidence. The results of this study support the attitude change perspective regarding the anchoring effect, which suggests that the anchoring effect varies depending on the characteristics of the reference point and the individual's knowledge.