Chris Janiszewski
Consumer researcher at the University of Florida, first author with Dan Uy of the five studies showing that people adjust less far away from a precise numerical anchor than from a rounded one. The explanation is about the resolution of the mental scale rather than about implied confidence, which is the version worth keeping.
Who they are
Janiszewski works on attention, pricing and numerical judgement in consumer settings.
The 2008 paper in Psychological Science is five studies rather than one, and its finding is narrow in a useful way. Somebody who sees a precise figure moves less from it than somebody who sees a round one, even when the two numbers are close together.
The account they offer is mechanical. A precise anchor appears to be represented on a subjective scale with finer resolution, so if adjustment proceeds by a series of small mental movements along that scale, the total journey is shorter and the person stops sooner.
Key papers
Janiszewski, C., & Uy, D. (2008). "Precision of the anchor influences the amount of adjustment." Psychological Science, 19(2), 121-127. First author. Five studies.
Key ideas
Scale resolution, not inferred confidence. Two rival accounts explain the same result, and the authors defend the first. A seller is probably relying on the second, and this site keeps them separate.
The claim is narrower than anchoring's reputation, which is why it survives the argument about that literature. Both numbers compared are plausible prices for the same object, so this is a question about adjustment rather than about whether stray numbers move behaviour. See Anchoring.
Scope, stated from the paper rather than extrapolated: these are laboratory judgment tasks, not small frequent purchases.
Sources
- Janiszewski, C., & Uy, D. (2008), Psychological Science, 19(2), 121-127, doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02057.x, verified at the published record 1 October 2026.