Answer to Question 1
Evaluation of a person's characteristics that is affected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics is known as the contrast effect. We don't evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction is influenced by other persons we have recently encountered. For example, in a series of job interviews, interviewers can make distortions in any given candidate's evaluation as a result of his or her place in the interview schedule. A candidate is likely to receive a more favorable evaluation if preceded by mediocre applicants and a less favorable evaluation if preceded by strong applicants.
Answer to Question 2
An anchoring bias is a tendency to fixate on initial information and fail to adequately adjust for subsequent information. It occurs because our mind appears to give a disproportionate amount of emphasis to the first information it receives. Anchors are widely used by people in professions in which persuasion skills are importantadvertisin g, management, politics, real estate, and law.
