---
id: "prereq-anchoring-effect"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["¶5"]
tags: ["psychology"]
related: ["concept-decision-anchoring-in-strategy", "entity-amos-tversky-daniel-kahneman"]
reason: "Necessary to understand why soliciting regional input after HQ has framed a problem is structurally ineffective."
sources: ["tail1"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail1"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-tail-108-decision-revolves-around-hq"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/05/what-global-companies-lose-when-decision-making-revolves-around-headquarters"
sourceTitle: "What Global Companies Lose When Decision-Making Revolves Around Headquarters"
---
# The Anchoring Effect

## Prerequisite — The Anchoring Effect

**What to know:** The **anchoring effect** is the cognitive bias in which individuals rely too heavily on an initial piece of information (the *“anchor”*) when making subsequent judgments. First introduced by [[entity-amos-tversky-daniel-kahneman]].

**Why it's a prerequisite here:** In this context it explains why HQ's initial problem framing is so difficult for regional leaders to overturn — and therefore why soliciting regional input *after* HQ has framed a problem is **structurally ineffective**, not merely a matter of effort or timing preference.

This is the load-bearing psychology beneath [[concept-decision-anchoring-in-strategy]], the claim [[claim-input-timing-matters]], and the remedy [[action-require-regional-briefs]].

**Enrichment:** Canonical, heavily replicated behavioral finding — fully validated. Synthesized for managers in Kahneman's *Thinking, Fast and Slow*.