Editing Anchoring effect (section)

=== Extremeness aversion ===
Extremeness aversion is a robust phenomenon where people try to avoid the extremes during decision-making, such as selecting the middle options more often than other extreme options and avoiding reporting the maximum or minimum on a Likert scale.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Neumann |first1=Nico |last2=Böckenholt |first2=Ulf |last3=Sinha |first3=Ashish |date=2016 |title=A meta-analysis of extremeness aversion |url=https://myscp.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.05.005 |journal=Journal of Consumer Psychology |language=en |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=193–212 |doi=10.1016/j.jcps.2015.05.005 |issn=1532-7663|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This desire to avoid extremes is at least partially responsible for the anchoring effect. For instance, upon setting an anchor, participants who were told they could adjust up to 6 units made significantly smaller adjustments compared to those who were told that they could adjust up to 15 units, suggesting that people avoid extremes when making decisions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=Joshua |last2=Gaertig |first2=Celia |last3=Simmons |first3=Joseph P. |date=2018-12-18 |title=Extremeness Aversion Is a Cause of Anchoring |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618799305 |journal=Psychological Science |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=159–173 |doi=10.1177/0956797618799305 |pmid=30561244 |issn=0956-7976|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Importantly, the maximum allowable adjustment  acted as an anchor that affected the final judgment, highlighting the prevalent aversion to extremes. As a result, the final judgment is close to the anchor because people do not want to adjust too close to the extremes.