Attitudinal Effects on Numerical Anchoring: A Mere Exposure Approach

Recent research suggests that an attitude change perspective on anchoring offers important supplementation to existing theories of anchoring. Past data has shown that people are more influenced by anchors when they are directionally consistent with their attitudes. This could be a result of individuals seeking information that is consistent with their attitude. This effect could also arise from differences in knowledge about the anchor. The present research aims to distinguish between these two possibilities by manipulating attitude without changing knowledge about the anchoring target. Experiment 1 established subliminal mere exposure of fictional brand names as a successful means of manipulating participants’ attitudes toward generic objects. Experiment 2 revealed that participants assigned higher price evaluations to objects with previously exposed brand names. Experiments 3a and 3b aimed to investigate the relationship between anchoring patterns and anchor-attitude consistency. Data analysis for Experiments 3a and 3b only showed a main effect for anchoring. Thus, a paradigm adjustment may be needed to document simultaneous effects of both mere exposure and numeric anchors in the future.URO Summer Research Fellowship- Department of PsychologyNo embargoAcademic Major: Psycholog