Is there a way to game your performance review at work?
Anchoring to the rescue! Next time your performance is being evaluated, it might help to keep mentioning big numbers that are applicable to the discussion:
Three studies were conducted investigating the effects of irrelevant anchors on performance judgments. Both a lab and field study demonstrated that an alternative anchoring manipulation that did not involve an explicit comparative question had effects on performance judgments similar to a traditional anchoring manipulation. The final study examined whether the anchoring effects were more likely when the anchor was highly applicable to the final judgment. The results indicated that both highly applicable and low applicable anchors produced an anchoring effect, but the highly applicable anchors had a larger effect on performance judgments. Evidence was also found for asymmetrical anchoring effects. In two of the three studies, high anchors increased performance judgments relative to the control group, whereas low anchors were not significantly different from the control group.
Source: Anchoring effects on performance judgments" from Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Volume 107, Issue 1, September 2008, Pages 29-40
I haven't read the full study so there might be more detail that limits the effectiveness of the above. Anchoring has been shown to work in a variety of situation and I'd be shocked if it didn't have some effect here. I've posted in the past about how you can use anchoring can reduce your prison sentence, how credit card companies use it to keep you in debt and restaurant menus use it to make you spend more money. So it'll probably help you look good at work too. :)
