RESEARCH_FILE
Nicholas Epley
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Known for:Behavioural economics and social cognition research, including experimental confirmation that anchoring and insufficient adjustment is the mechanistic driver of the spotlight effect
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“Everyone is judging me”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“Nobody is keeping a file on me. They’re busy with their own day.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
On a scrap of paper, make two columns: “what I noticed” and “what I assumed.” Fill each with three short phrases from one recent moment, then fold the paper and set it aside without rereading it.
Key findings
- 2004
With Savitsky and Gilovich, Epley published a formal anchoring account of the spotlight effect, demonstrating through experimental manipulations that forcing participants to take the observer's perspective first substantially reduced — but did not eliminate — the bias, confirming insufficient adjustment as the core mechanism. Anchoring Unweighed: Interpreting Vague Environmental Cues as Anchors in Judgments of Academic Performance ↗