🧠 The Anchoring Effect: How Initial Thought Influences Your Decision-Making

Have you ever noticed how the first number you hear in a negotiation tends to shape your perception of what is reasonable, even if the number itself is arbitrary? This phenomenon is known as the anchoring effect. It describes our tendency to rely heavily on the first piece of information presented to us when making decisions, often leading to biased judgments.

📌 What is it?

The anchoring effect is a cognitive bias where people rely too much on the first piece of information (the "anchor") they receive when making decisions. Tversky and Kahneman – Israeli psychologists known for their research on human decision-making and behavioral economics – discovered that people tend to rely heavily on the first piece of information they receive (the "anchor") when making decisions, even if that information is arbitrary or irrelevant. Once an initial reference point – such as a price in a negotiation – is set, people tend to anchor their thinking around it, often failing to adjust sufficiently. This bias can be exploited in marketing, sales, and negotiations, subtly influencing our choices and perceptions of value.

Examples of the Anchoring Effect in Practice:

1️⃣Pricing Strategies: A seller initially sets a high price for a product, establishing an anchor that makes a subsequent discount appear more attractive – even if the final price remains above market value.

2️⃣Cognitive Bias in Chess: Chess players evaluate a position based on their initial evaluation – opening, anchoring their judgment to their first impression. This can lead to suboptimal decision-making, as a more in-depth analysis might reveal a superior move.

3️⃣Examination Bias: In exams, an individual's initial answer choice can serve as an anchor, shaping their interpretation of subsequent information and potentially reinforcing an incorrect response.

Before making a significant decision, consider whether your judgment is based on objective analysis or if it has been unconsciously influenced by an initial reference point.

You can use that anchor in favor of yourself in many ways. In chess, for example, I start the game with a wide array of openings, ranging from Spanish (Ruy Lopez) to English to make it next to impossible for my opponent to identify my opening repertoire and strategic vulnerabilities across both opening, middle game, and endgame.

As a wise man once said, randomizing the opening makes your game more unpredictable and dynamically complex. That is why you must love Fischer Random Chess – Chess960 ♟, which fosters heightened creativity and innovative problem-solving skills when consistently practiced with structured analytical study of positional principles.

As you can see, I have a commanding attacking position with multiple tactical and positional threats converging on Black's kingside and central squares. The highlighted arrows illustrate pressure on key focal points, particularly targeting the queen on e7, the bishop on e4, and the vulnerable kingside defenses.

The advantages of the spread of English as a global language will continue to outweigh its disadvantages.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

It is predicted that as English continues to solidify its role as the global lingua franca, so do its benefits become greater than the potential drawbacks. While certain disadvantages associated with this trend are here to stay, I believe that the advantages always take precedence.

It cannot be denied, however, that these days, an increasing number of people are studying English across the globe, as acquiring proficiency in this language unlocks numerous academic and professional opportunities. A good case in point is my home country, the Republic of Uzbekistan, where there is a strong emphasis on English language acquisition, particularly among young people, in the hope of securing lucrative employment and gaining admission to prestigious universities. This growing trend, however, raises concerns about the erosion of linguistic diversity. A significant shift towards a global language can, in extreme cases, lead to endangerment or even extinction of minority languages: Irish, Ainu, Basque, and Quechua; this, in turn, results in the loss of intangible cultural heritage and history embedded in these languages. Language barriers are another drawback, as not everyone is able to transition to English fluently. This, in turn, may exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities/disparities – not least in employment.

Nevertheless, the pervasive adoption of English as a universal language offers far more advantages, with one of the most notable ones, as stated above, being the enhancement of academic and employment prospects. As far as education is concerned, students who possess a strong command of English have a chance to pursue their studies abroad, allowing them to immerse themselves in diverse linguistic and cultural landscapes, thus broadening their intellectual horizons and helping them become well-rounded individuals. Similarly, proficiency in English enhances career mobility not only in their home country but also internationally, as multinational corporations – especially in the technology and finance sectors – hire such bilingual or multilingual candidates, allowing them to secure high-paying positions and enjoy better career prospects. Lastly, sharing a common global language fosters communication/cross-cultural dialogue among people, irrespective of their nationality, bringing global understanding and cultural tolerance among nations as a result. This mutual understanding, in turn, reduces the likelihood of potential conflicts and fosters global peace and societal cohesion.

To conclude, although the continued dominance of English as the primary means of international communication could contribute to the loss of endangered languages and cultures and history embodied in them, as well as create linguistic barriers for some, its merits – ranging from educational and employment advantages to greater intercultural connectivity – are too profound to overlook.

Words: 419. 💎
Written on March 29, 2025. 🗓

#EssayByMe ✉️

Eidi for you all! 🎉

This is my latest essay, written yesterday – hope it helps and inspires you. Wishing everyone a blessed and joyful Eid filled with happiness and success! 🌘

🔔NEW MILESTONE: the number of essays I have analyzed throughout my life reached an impressive 1001 yesterday. Approximately 80% were written/crafted by IELTS instructors (and occasionally General English teachers), while the remaining 20% came from students, with their scores ranging from 5 to 7.

Despite a demanding schedule filled with AP courses, computer science, and teaching, I'm working further on my writing skills with a person, who got a solid 8 in writing, to secure that elusive 8.0 in this section. To wrap up, I'm just planning to re-take the test on Dec after taking the ACT. 📈

🔬 Mutual Dreaming: A Mysterious Psychological Phenomenon or a Cognitive Anomaly?

The concept of mutual dreaming / synchronous dreaming – in which two or more individuals report experiencing the same or highly similar dreams – has long intrigued researchers in psychology and neuroscience. While mainstream science remains skeptical, anecdotal accounts of shared dream experiences persist, raising questions about the nature of consciousness and the mechanisms underlying dreaming.

Several hypotheses attempt to explain this phenomenon: ⬇️

*️⃣Coincidence and Shared Experiences – Individuals who share common environments, emotions, or daily experiences may unconsciously construct similar dream narratives.

*️⃣Subconscious Connectivity – Some theories propose that emotionally or psychologically connected individuals (e.g., close friends, partners, or twins) may exhibit synchronized neural activity during sleep, potentially influencing dream content.

*️⃣Quantum or Telepathic Theories – While lacking empirical support, certain speculative models suggest that consciousness may operate on levels beyond current scientific understanding, allowing for information transfer during altered states of awareness.

Although there is no conclusive scientific evidence to validate mutual dreaming, research on shared consciousness, lucid dreaming, and sleep-related neural synchronization continues to explore whether external stimuli or subconscious processes could facilitate such experiences.

Could mutual dreaming be an indication of an interconnected cognitive framework, or is it merely a reflection of the brain's tendency to form patterns? Further research is required to determine whether this phenomenon is a genuine cognitive event or a product of memory distortion and suggestion.

Have you ever encountered a dream that seemed to align with another person's experience? Most would say no, but countless anecdotes suggest otherwise. 🌘

The bar chart compares employment levels across five types of work in one Australian region in 2001 and 2008.

Overall, the workforce was dominated by the sales sector, with its employee numbers significantly outpacing those in other fields. While there were increases in most sectors, albeit to varying degrees, accounting and farming recorded decreases. These trends reflect a notable shift in the regional job market’s demands: from traditional industries like farming toward technology-driven fields such as computing.

In 2001, sales led/dominated the employment landscape, with some 150,000 people employed in this sector – a figure that dwarfed all others. By 2008, this figure had risen to a striking 165,000, continuing to hold the top spot. At the bottom end of the scale was farming, an area of work that attracted the fewest workers. It started at five times as low as sales (30,000) before declining even further in 2008 (to a mere 20,000 workers).

The remaining three categories stood at relatively similar levels. Worker numbers in computing increased significantly from about 60,000 to 80,000 in 2008. Nursing followed this trend, albeit less so, rising by approximately 2,000 workers. In contrast, accounting fell out of favor: despite boasting a slightly higher figure initially, at well above the 60,000 mark, it then fell in 2008.

Words: 213, 20 minutes. 🚀
Potential score: 8.0+ 💎
Written on May 9, 2025. 🗓

#ReportByMe ✉️

The Soul of a Nation ⚽️

Perhaps they can do it this time.

#SoulOfANation 👍

Uzbekistan has conquered the ghosts of yesterday!

And that’s it! Uzbekistan marches into the World Cup for the first time in history! The Blue Wolves stood firm, unshaken, unmoved. And now, history is written in Uzbek gold! Hats off to an incredible goalkeeper, btw!

#UzbekistanRises 📈