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The Shadow of Anchors Shakes the Mind──The Power of Illusions Created by Numbers (January 2026) The anchoring effect is the phenomenon where an unrelated number presented immediately before a question unnaturally steers our judgment. Even if the number itself has no inherent meaning, System 1, responsible for intuitive processing, takes that number as a cue and uses it as a reference point for the answer. This influence is particularly strong for questions where we lack confidence in the answer, pulling our judgments toward the magnitude of the number. This occurs because numbers trigger associations and priming, causing the brain to instantly seek relevance. In daily life, this bias arises in many situations: price negotiations, real estate valuations, comparing sale prices. The initially presented number becomes the starting point; even if subsequent adjustments are made, the underlying bias persists. To distance oneself from this illusion, it is effective to engage Sys
tem 2, responsible for careful deliberation, and consciously review whether one's intuition is being pulled by the number. The anchoring effect has been repeatedly confirmed in behavioral economics and psychology research, with experiments by Kahneman and Tversky being a prime example. Understanding how much the presentation of numbers influences judgment is essential in modern purchasing behavior and decision-making, serving as a key to protecting our own thinking.