Argh mateys, drop anchor hard to port!

Avast lads, this be another installment on the high seas with the Wizard of Jah. But alas, this voyage be one into the ocean of consumer behavior.  Neigh, it not be about scurvy and the choice of toothpastes, but a voyage about anchoring; the cognitive bias that describes the common human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered when making decisions. (Wiki is a legitimate source)  Hoist the main sail matey, we beginning our interpretation of this here anchoring and me own personal experiences, argh argh argh.

Enough of the pirate talk, the joke is dead and so is that horse (Get it? A joke within a joke?!).  Anchoring can be applied to a consumers perception of a company, the choices you make when it comes to purchasing peanut butter, and even when deciding upon what to eat for dinner.  Just to give a little more insight into anchoring I will give an example of these three forms I have just outlined for you today.

1.  Consumer perception of a company.  How is this related to anchoring? Well that's fairly easy to explain.  Consumer's will develop an idea about a company and a product from their first interaction with said company.  This interaction doesn't need to be transaction based or even a direct interaction. Say you had just been introduced to a company, brand new, no previous knowledge, know nothing about them.  Then you hear from a friend that they bought the product and it broke within a week of use.  Now, you will perceive their products to be sub par, even after only hearing of one incident.  This is anchoring.

2. Purchasing peanut butter.  Whether you are a nutty, creamy, Skippy, Jif, whatever it may be, you have been anchored in life to continually make the same purchase over and over.  Take a trip down memory lane to your first memory of peanut butter.  For me it is making fluffer nutter sandwiches with my mom in the kitchen, I was probably 6 years old at the time.  Guess which peanut butter we used? Skippy creamy.  Guess which peanut butter I buy today, about 15 years later? Skippy creamy.  Welcome to anchoring, that peanut butter was your first and it has become a norm for you, therefore making it difficult to deviate.

3.  What to eat for dinner? Not sure, maybe try lifting up that anchor and try something new.  When tasked with the daunting event of figuring out dinner plans, partners alike sweat as their significant other pressures them to choose correctly.  After understanding this process, it is blatantly clear that we as consumer's are anchored by our choices.  We see ourselves continually choosing the same limited list of restaurants, simply due to the ease of choice and potential risk of not having enjoyable food.  Stick to what you know is the theme here.

After acknowledging these various forms of anchoring I think it is clear that anchoring is in some cases not a positive aspect of a consumer's mind.  Company's and their products should be experienced first hand before a pre-conceived notion is developed.  Just because your mom made the sandwich a certain way doesn't mean you should continue on with it like that.  Find out for yourself which is your favorite out there, develop your own preferences, not the ones laid out for you.  Lastly, deviate from your norm. Experience new restaurants, new products, and of course matey lift up that there anchor and set sail into the American culture that has shaped you into the monotonous and predictable consumer you are!