Publications [#274115] of Richard P. Larrick

Papers Published

1. Rader, CA; Soll, JB; Larrick, RP, Pushing away from representative advice: Advice taking, anchoring, and adjustment, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 130 (January, 2015), pp. 26-43, Elsevier BV, ISSN 0749-5978 [doi]
   (last updated on 2026/01/17)

   Abstract:
   Five studies compare the effects of forming an independent judgment prior to receiving advice with the effects of receiving advice before forming one's own opinion. We call these the independent-then-revise sequence and the dependent sequence, respectively. We found that dependent participants adjusted away from advice, leading to fewer estimates close to the advice compared to independent-then-revise participants (Studies 1-5). This "push-away" effect was mediated by confidence in the advice (Study 2), with dependent participants more likely to evaluate advice unfavorably and to search for additional cues than independent-then-revise participants (Study 3). Study 4 tested accuracy under different advice sequences. Study 5 found that classic anchoring paradigms also show the push-away effect for median advice. Overall, the research shows that people adjust from representative (median) advice. The paper concludes by discussing when push-away effects occur in advice taking and anchoring studies and the value of independent distributions for observing these effects.