# How Does Cognitive Bias Affect Large Language Models? A Case Study on the Anchoring Effect in Price Negotiation Simulations

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.21137 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.21137/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 17 of its 46 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 28 Aug 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 17 of 17)

- [GPT-4 Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.08774/) (2023)
- [Whose Opinions Do Language Models Reflect?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.17548/) (2023)
- [Out of One, Many: Using Language Models to Simulate Human Samples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.06899/) (2022)
- [A Survey on Large Language Models for Code Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.00515/) (2024)
- [Using Large Language Models to Simulate Multiple Humans and Replicate Human Subject Studies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.10264/) (2022)
- [Character-LLM: A Trainable Agent for Role-Playing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.10158/) (2023)
- [PersonaLLM: Investigating the Ability of Large Language Models to Express Personality Traits](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.02547/) (2023)
- [Decoupling Strategy and Generation in Negotiation Dialogues](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.09637/) (2018)
- [Cognitive Bias in Decision-Making with LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.00811/) (2024)
- [How Well Can LLMs Negotiate? NegotiationArena Platform and Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.05863/) (2024)
- [Can Large Language Model Agents Simulate Human Trust Behavior?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.04559/) (2024)
- [Deciding Fast and Slow: The Role of Cognitive Biases in AI-assisted Decision-making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.07938/) (2020)
- [Measuring Bargaining Abilities of LLMs: A Benchmark and A Buyer-Enhancement Method](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.15813/) (2024)
- [Do Large Language Models Show Decision Heuristics Similar to Humans? A Case Study Using GPT-3.5](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.04400/) (2023)
- [Anchoring Bias in Large Language Models: An Experimental Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.06593/) (2024)
- [LLMs Simulate Big Five Personality Traits: Further Evidence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.01765/) (2024)
- [Cognitive Biases in Large Language Models: A Survey and Mitigation Experiments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.00323/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [AnchorBench: A Multi-Pathway Benchmark for the Anchoring Effect in LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.14320/) (2026)
- [Talk is Cheap, Communication is Hard: Dynamic Grounding Failures and Repair in Multi-Agent Negotiation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.01750/) (2026)
- [Beyond Inefficiency: Systemic Costs of Incivility in Multi-Agent Monte Carlo Simulations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.11789/) (2026)
- [Localizing Anchoring Pathways in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.12818/) (2026)
- [Words Speak Louder Than Code: Investigating Cognitive Heuristics in LLM-Based Code Vulnerability Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.30587/) (2026)
- [Measuring Human-Like Bias in LLMs? A Critique of Human-Derived Bias Constructs in LLM Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.00070/) (2026)
- [SoK: Decentralized Agent Economic Infrastructure](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.01756/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Cognitive biases, well-studied in humans, can also be observed in LLMs, affecting their reliability in real-world applications. This paper investigates the anchoring effect in LLM-driven price negotiations. To this end, we instructed seller LLM agents to apply the anchoring effect and evaluated negotiations using not only an objective metric but also a subjective metric. Experimental results show that LLMs are influenced by the anchoring effect like humans. Additionally, we investigated the relationship between the anchoring effect and factors such as reasoning and personality. It was shown that reasoning models are less prone to the anchoring effect, suggesting that the long chain of thought mitigates the effect. However, we found no significant correlation between personality traits and susceptibility to the anchoring effect. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of cognitive biases in LLMs and to the realization of safe and responsible application of LLMs in society.