Power increases anchoring effects on judgment

Four experiments test the impact of power (versus powerlessness) on anchoring effects. Anchoring refers to the tendency to assimilate one’s judgment to a previously considered numeric standard. Based on the notion that power facilitates the activation of and reliance on accessible information, we hypothesized that power increases numeric anchoring effects on judgment, compared to powerlessness. Across studies, we found consistent support for this idea, when testing estimations of factual values (Experiments 1 and 2), subjective evaluations (Experiment 3), and negotiation behavior (Experiment 4). The findings of Studies 2 to 4 qualify the dominant idea in power literature that power reduces conformity to others’ opinion. Power increases conformity to others’ opinion, if such opinion is presented as an anchor and therefore processed more automatically. These findings also have important methodological implications for power research. They show that differences in stimulus presentation can steer observed effects of power in opposite directions.