It was interesting to read Dan Ariely's book on Predictably Irrational. How he introduced psychology terms 'anchor' and 'imprint' with his experiments and stories.
Dan began with Konrad Lorenz, the Nobel prized naturalist who discovered that goslings, upon breaking out of their eggs, become attached to the first moving object they encounter (which is generally their mother). This reminded me of one of the story of Tom and Jerry which I watched together with my children when they were young. Once, Jerry happened to be the first moving object that a chick saw when it came out of the cracked egg. From that moment onward, the chick would follow Jerry everywhere it went, and that really annoyed Jerry.. This natural phenomenon is called imprinting.
As for anchor. for instant, would be the price that you first purchase for an item.
Looking back, yes, I paid RM100 for a pair of white leather shoes to go with my white wedding gown 25 years ago. It was a nice pair of shoes, and the most expensive shoes I had ever paid for, then. 5 years and 10 years down the road, I just couldn't pay more than RM100 for a normal wear shoes, not until two years ago that my plantar fascitiis condition required me to buy a good pair of shoes. I was anchoring RM100 to pay for a good pair of shoes, regardless of how many times inflation have gone up over the two decades!
