Experimental verification of the anchoring effect of a punishment reference histogram

DOI Web Site 1 Citations Open Access
  • Watamura Eiichiro
    Faculty of Letters, Keio University Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
  • Wakebe Toshihiro
    Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
  • Saeki Masahiko
    Faculty of Law and Economics, Chiba University

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 量刑分布グラフによるアンカリング効果についての実験的検証
  • リョウケイ ブンプ グラフ ニ ヨル アンカリング コウカ ニ ツイテ ノ ジッケンテキ ケンショウ

Search this article

Abstract

This study verified the influence of a punishment reference histogram on the sentences of lay judges. In Experiment 1, 80 undergraduates determined the prison terms of an offender in an audio trial. About half the students were shown a histogram with a peak of the punishment meted out in similar cases and the remainder a histogram without it. The peak was set as a relatively short prison term (5–10 yrs) considering the seriousness of the crime (murder). The result indicated that the peak-histogram group chose significantly shorter prison terms than did the non-peak-histogram group, suggesting that the peak influenced the former’s sentencing. Moreover, Experiment 2 showed that the peak of the histogram influenced participant sentencing more strongly than a table, although both held the same punishment data, and that the same shaped histogram of different data did not. From these results, we concluded that the anchoring effect of the histogram is most likely to be caused by the visual attractiveness of the peak.

Journal

Citations (1)*help

See more

Related Projects

See more

Details

Report a problem

Back to top