Author: Don McMinn

Anchoring (also called focalism) is a cognitive bias in which we become inordinately influenced by initial information (considered to be the “anchor”). Once we accept the anchor, all future judgments, decisions, negotiations, arguments, estimates, etc. are made in relation to the anchor. And we become reluctant to embrace information and facts that challenge the initial information. 

In short, we tend to rely too heavily on the first piece of information we’re given. It unduly influences our thinking.

For instance, anchoring is used by businesses and organizations to manipulate the perceived value of a product or service. The retail price of an item is listed (anchored) at $450, but it’s now on sale for $215. Naively, we may think the product is really worth $450 (though it may be worth only $50) so we believe the lower price must be a good value. To make matters worse, we may not even be interested in the item, but the “good deal” seems too good to pass up so we buy something we don’t need at an inflated price.

We can also become anchored to a plan of action, our first impression about an individual, a political persuasion, or the first comment we hear about a current event. 

Do not underestimate how gullible we humans are to this effect. In a study by Dan Ariely, an audience is first asked to write the last two digits of their social security number and consider whether they would pay this number of dollars for items whose value they did not know, such as wine, chocolate, and computer equipment. They were then asked to bid for these items. The audience members with higher two-digit numbers submitted bids that were between 60 percent and 120 percent higher than those with lower social security numbers. The number had become an anchor. When asked if they believed the number was informative of the value of the item, quite a few said yes. Even though everyone’s social security number is a random series of digits, those numbers had an effect on their decision-making. [My social security number ends with 00, so I probably would not have even bid.]

It’s very hard to totally avoid anchoring bias. Like all cognitive biases, it happens subconsciously, and it’s hard to identify, much less challenge subconscious thoughts. Here are some suggestions.

1. 1. Be skeptical of first impressions. Challenge all thoughts and statements, but be particularly doubtful about first thoughts and statements. Develop counterarguments to primary thoughts.
   2. When making a decision, always consider alternative options.
   3. When making decisions as a group, designate someone to be the devil’s advocate—someone who will intentionally oppose and challenge the group’s ideas.

I just finished reading Ikigai – The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Garcia and Miralles. I highly recommend the book.

In Japanese culture, there is a concept called “ikigai,” which loosely translates as “a reason for living.” A French philosopher might call it a raison d’être. I would summarize by saying “everyone needs a reason to get out of bed in the morning.”   Every person, it is believed, has an ikigai that they must search for. The search is long and deeply personal, but once your ikigai is found it is what you devote your life to. It’s the place where passion, mission, vocation, and profession intersect.

The entire book is nicely summarized and explained by a well-thought-out Venn diagram (a graphic that uses overlapping circles to illustrate the logical relationships between two or more sets of items). Take a minute to study this diagram.

 

I think our personal Ikigai can change throughout life. For instance, when my daughter Sarah graduated from Juilliard her primary focus was on building her career. But five months ago she gave birth to Claire and now the child is Sarah’s reason for getting up in the morning (and several times during the night 🙂 and is the primary source of fulfillment.

What has been the prime motivator in your life? Has it changed recently?

Travel with Friends Information Meeting

Join me on March 11, 7:00p.m. CST for a 45-minute information meeting on Zoom about the 2024 Travel with Friends trip to the Baltic Sea and Northern Europe.

We’ll discuss the itinerary, accommodations, and ports of calls. The Q&A will answer all your questions. If you want to attend, let me know and I’ll send you an invitation. You can download Zoom for free. You can also participate via a conference call using your mobile phone.

Here’s the brochure that we’ll discuss. Baltic-Sea-Trip-2024-Brochure-110823-Fillable

If you want to attend, email me at [email protected] or call me at 214.783.4414

 

For the last 14 months of its life, the check engine light in my old Subaru Forester (230,000 miles) was constantly on. I would fix one issue that triggered the alarm and then another would flare up. I became so weary of the issue that I didn’t even want to have it checked out. I just ignored the light and would have disconnected it had I known how to. 

Years ago (before Mary and I vowed to live debt-free) when our credit card bill would get out of hand, I avoided checking the balance because I knew it was high and out of control.

In both cases, I was exhibiting the ostrich effect (OE).

According to a persistent myth, ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they’re scared or feel threatened. They think they are safe if they can’t see the danger. (They don’t really do that.) 

The ostrich effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to avoid information that they perceive as potentially unpleasant. From a psychological standpoint, OE is the result of the conflict between what our rational mind knows to be important and what our emotional mind anticipates will be painful. Instead of helping, it drains us of time, energy, and resources and offers nothing of value in return. 

Here are some examples of the ostrich effect

• • • You may hesitate to weigh yourself on a scale because you know you’re not sticking to your diet.
    • You may avoid getting a professional medical diagnosis because you’re afraid of hearing bad news).
    • You regularly check your retirement fund when the market is going up but not when it’s going down (although, to manage your money wisely, you need consistent data).
    • Parents may hesitate to have a child who is having trouble in school tested.
    • A business executive may postpone delving into what may be problems in the organization.

As is often the case with cognitive biases, the first step towards clarity is self-awareness. We must realize and admit that we’re falling prey to unhealthy thinking. I think the ostrich effect is one of the easiest biases to recognize: Just identify areas in your life in which you’re procrastinating or reluctant to get information because you think it might be bad news. 

The antidote to the ostrich effect is also simple and straightforward: Immediately pursue areas that you’re avoiding and pursue them aggressively. Put them at the top of your to-do-list; pledge that you’ll not eat again until you address the issues :).  

The ostrich effect offers no value—there’s no upside—but overcoming it is very beneficial. As the Bible says, “The truth will set you free,” even if the truth is unpalatable

Travel with Friends Information Meeting

Join me on March 11, 7:00p.m. CST for a 45-minute information meeting on Zoom about the 2024 Travel with Friends trip to the Baltic Sea and Northern Europe.

We’ll discuss the itinerary, accommodations, and ports of calls. The Q&A will answer all your questions. If you want to attend, let me know and I’ll send you an invitation. You can download Zoom for free. You can also participate via a conference call using your mobile phone.

Here’s the brochure that we’ll discuss. Baltic-Sea-Trip-2024-Brochure-110823-Fillable

If you want to attend, email me at [email protected] or call me at 214.783.4414

 

Several months ago I led communion service at my church. To introduce the service, I shared an anecdote about Eddie Rickenbacker’s life-giving encounter with a seagull. It’s a fascinating and true story.

Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was a legendary war hero.

Born in 1890, he was in his 20’s when WW1 began. He persuaded Army leadership to allow him to train as one of the first pursuit fighter pilots. He became one of the most successful pilots in military history — known as America’s “Ace of Aces.” 

As a result of repeatedly attacking enemy aircraft alone or outnumbered, in his first six months as a pilot he shot down 26 German aircraft, which was a record that stood until the later part of WW2. 

For his service in the war, he received the Congressional Medal of Honor and a record eight Distinguished Service Crosses, as well as the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre by France.

When World War II began, Rickenbacker was eager to serve his country once again.  

Too old to fly, he toured the country recruiting and inspiring pilots and became a special envoy for President Roosevelt. One of his assignments from the President was to deliver a secret message to General Douglas MacArthur who was in New Guinea.

In route to New Guinea, the B-17 on which Rickenbacker was a passenger had a malfunction in its navigation system, got lost over the Pacific Ocean, ran out of fuel, and ditched at sea. For 24 days, Rickenbacker and seven other crew members lived in a small rubber life raft. Food ran out in three days. One man died and the others began to slowly waste away.

Then, a miracle happened. 

On the eighth day of being lost at sea, following a brief worship service, Rickenbacker leaned against the side of the raft and drifted into sleep. We was awakened by the feel of a seagull that had landed on his head. He reached up and grabbed the bird and it became both dinner for the men, and fishing bait. They ate the bird and fished with what was left. In the next 16 days – until they were rescued – they lived off of the fish they caught using the bird’s bones as hooks.

Captain Rickenbacker never forgot that moment – how that one bird appeared, lifted their spirits and saved them, emotionally and physically. 

In his old age (he lived to age 82), Rickenbacker lived on the east coast of Florida. In the final years of his life he created a personal tradition—a routine that would remind him of the event that happened 52 years earlier, when the seagull saved his life. 

He would walk down to the pier with a bucket of shrimp and slowly and methodically feed the seagulls. It was a time of reflection; a time of gratitude, and a time of remembrance.

Years ago, radio announcer Paul Harvey summarized the story by saying this: “Rickenbacker never forgot that incident. Every Friday evening, about sunset, on a lonely stretch along the Eastern Florida seacoast, you could see an old man walking, white haired, bushy eye-browed, silently bent, his bucket filled with shrimp to feed the sea gulls, to remember one bird, on a day long past, that gave itself without a struggle.”

The following is also a true story.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus, the Son of God gave himself as a sacrifice for mankind. He died a cruel and undeserved death on our behalf. 

On the night before he died, Jesus and his disciples observed the Passover meal together. 

During the meal, Jesus changed the metaphors of the passover. When he took the unleavened bread in his hands he said “from now on this bread will represent my body which will be broken for you.” When he took the wine he changed it’s  symbolism by saying, “from now on this wine will represent my blood that will be spilled for you. Do these two things to remember me, and the sacrifice I made for your redemption and healing.”

So just as Captain Rickenbacker had a tradition to remember a significant event in his life, our Lord has given us a tradition that reminds us of the historical event that changed the world and our lives.

For the past two thousand years, followers of Jesus have met and set aside time to “remember.” This morning, we join with believers worldwide now and through the ages, to eat a small morsel of bread and sip a small amount of juice – not for the sake of sustenance – but as an act of remembering.”

Readers: The next time you participate in the Eucharist, use it as a moment to remember the sacrifice that Christ made on our behalf

Travel with Friends Information Meeting

Join me on March, 11, 7:00p.m. CST for a 45-minute information meeting on Zoom about the 2024 Travel with Friends trip to the Baltic Sea and Northern Europe.

We’ll discuss the itinerary, accommodations, and ports of calls. The Q&A will answer all your questions. If you want to attend, let me know and I’ll send you an invitation. You can download Zoom for free. You can also participate via a conference call using your mobile phone.

Here’s the brochure that we’ll discuss. Baltic-Sea-Trip-2024-Brochure-110823-Fillable

If you want to attend, email me at [email protected] or call me at 214.783.4414