Its Called Anchoring Bias. And It’s Destroying Your Ability to Think.

Harrison Ford was running through an office building after a cat-and-mouse up and down stairwells with
Tommy Lee Jones. The fugitive left the stairs and ran down a populated hallway toward the revolving doors and, hopefully freedom. Jones pursued, desperately trying to catch a man convicted of murder who had escaped.

Ford runs to a security guard, and tells him there is a man waving a gun and yelling chasing him. The guard believes him, then takes steps to stop Jones. Ford run towards the door, ultimately escaping.

What Jones character used, and what the security guard fell for, is called anchoring bias. It’s a strong bias we have toward believing the first thing we hear, or the first version of events we hear. It’s the same thing that allows children to believe an overweight man in a red suit flies around the world and enjoys tight chimneys; it’s the reason we believe the religion our parents taught us.

Anchor bias has been further intensified by social media and search engines. Algorithms study what you read, spend time on, like, and click; they then send you more of the same. Someone who has interacted with left leaning sites and influencers will see an influx of the same, and the same applies for the right. and this further hardens ones anchor bias, thus making it more difficult to accept opposing views or even accurate evidence that the initial belief is false.

Ones initial belief becomes an anchor, and the longer it is in place, the harder it is to move.

And this bias becomes dangerous when combined with the agendas of political parties. Political parties are big business, and the agenda, no matter what the carefully curated public relations campaigns tell you, are to win. To win, they demonize the other side. To do they, they sell fear.

We also have to acknowledge that while intelligent people who desire facts and evidence will try to counter anchor bias, we also realize many simply don’t want to. Many want to remain in the comfort of their beliefs, the comfort of hating one party or person, the comfort of only hearing from the side they agree with.

And we are seeing this in full force right now as a new administration takes over. Trump used anchor biases to push a narratives with great exaggerations. Are the majority of illegal immigrants actually gang members, killing and raping women, and stealing election? No. But if someone wants to believe so, good luck changing that, and Fox News and right leaning media outlets know that.

And social media knows what you believe and respond to, and feed you a steady stream of the same thing, pushing those biases even deeper.

And did Trump actually roll back prescription drug costs or kill aid to seniors and families in need with the spending freeze? No. But good luck convincing any left leaning believer of that. When political party leaders push the narrative, and know the gullible are eagerly listening and actively rejecting anything other than that narrative, it becomes easy to sell fear. And Facebook and Instagram and TikTok know what you respond to, what makes you mad, and keeps sending you the same message, even if inaccurate.

In order to be genuine productive members of society, we need to actively fight our own anchor biases. We need to reject the natural desire to want to further demonize those we may not like, and take active steps to make sure we get information from a variety of sources. Instead of using Google to search for thoughts we agree with, use it to fact check the many versions of an issue that exist.

And remember this: if your first reaction to something is anger or fear, it is very likely the person telling you or conveying information wants you to feel that anger or fear. Fight this. Do research. Fact check. Read the actual bill or executive order.

And realize that even news sources and people you trust can have agendas. And those agendas are furthered by using your own anchor biases against you.