Debiasing anchoring bias in the context of telemedicine

Clinical decision-making in the context of asynchronous ‘store-and-forward’ telemedicine can be susceptible to the cognitive shortcut of anchoring bias. This paper aims to (1) examine the effect of cognitive style, cognitive ability, and information breadth on anchoring bias in telemedicine, (2) validate the effectiveness of a composite debiasing strategy, (3) investigate how the extent of debiasing is affected by cognitive style, cognitive ability, and information breadth. A pre-test–post-test experiment was conducted among 72 medical students with a composite debiasing strategy as an intervention. Results indicated that information breadth increased individuals’ susceptibility to anchoring bias. The composite debiasing strategy was successful in reducing anchoring bias. The debiasing effect was particularly pronounced among individuals with high cognitive ability. Furthermore, cognitive style interacted with cognitive ability to affect the reduction in anchoring bias. The debiasing worked best for high cognitive ability and intuitive cognitive style. The paper draws on the literature on cognitive psychology and clinical decision-making to contribute as one of the earliest efforts to study anchoring bias in telemedicine.