What type of bias occurs when an examiner’s initial impressions are overly relied upon in decision making?

The anchoring effect is a cognitive bias where individuals rely too heavily on the first piece of information they encounter when making decisions. In the context of an examiner's assessment, if their initial impressions significantly influence their later judgments, it exemplifies the anchoring effect. For instance, if a examiner forms an initial view about a situation based on early evidence, subsequent evaluations may be skewed around that initial view, regardless of any new data that contradicts it. This reliance on the initial impression can lead to flawed decision-making, as the examiner may overlook critical information that does not align with their initial assessment.

In contrast, confirmation bias refers to the tendency to search for, interpret, or remember information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs, leading to a skewed understanding that is not directly related to the strength of initial impressions. Hindsight bias involves the tendency to see events as having been predictable after they have already occurred, which does not pertain to decision-making influenced by initial impressions. The availability heuristic relates to the reliance on immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating a topic or decision, instead of being focused on the initial impression.