Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Anchoring is a well-known, robust effect causing estimates tobe biased towards previously seen values – regardless of theirrelevance. Reducing anchoring bias is important for optimizingestimation. Herein, we tested the MOLE (More-Or-LessElicitation) tool’s ability to limit the impact of anchors onestimates. In a direct elicitation task, 62 participants’ bestestimates correlated with anchor values at 0.27 whereas, whenusing the MOLE, this relationship disappeared (r = .02).Results also showed, however, that expertise reduces theimpact of anchoring (r = -0.46). We conclude that use of theMOLE assists in avoiding anchoring and that this will be mosthelpful in areas of high uncertainty.