Primacy Effect | Definition & Examples
Primacy bias describes how it is usually easier to recall information we heard earlier in an interaction. So, if we read a long list of items, we are more likely to remember the first few items in the list than the ones we read later.
What is the primacy effect?
The primacy effect (also sometimes called the primacy bias) is a type of cognitive bias or mental shortcut. We use mental shortcuts all the time to help us make decisions in the face of otherwise overwhelming amounts of data we process. Most of the time, these biases help us to make efficient and effective decisions. Sometimes, however, they lead us to make biased decisions.
When the judging panel meets at the end of the evening, you find that you can only recall the first three acts with any clarity. As you can recall that none of those acts was very good, you are negatively biased against them. And as one of the final acts was very strong, recency bias comes into play, and you award them top spot.
This combination of the two biases means that there is a strong possibility that the contest results will not fairly reflect the participants’ performances.
Primacy effect causes
It is thought that there are several likely causes of the primacy effect, including:
- Memory: The memory capacity of the human brain is remarkable, but it has some performance limitations. Without practice, it is difficult to remember a long list of items, and it is apparent that the first few items in a list tend to imbed themselves in our memories more easily.
- Repetition: Repetition helps memorization, and there is more chance that we will repeat items encountered at the start of a list than those that come later. This makes them more likely to be committed successfully to memory.
- Attention: It is completely normal for our attention to waver as time passes. As a result, the early part of a presentation or lecture will be easier for us to remember, because our minds are less likely to have wandered.
One study examined the order of candidates’ names on the ballot and the impact it had on voting. The results suggested that in 90 percent of districts, the first-named candidates received more votes than when in any other position. In 10 percent of those cases, the difference was more than the victory margin for the winner.
The implication is that the primacy effect could have a real-world impact on the results of elections.
The primacy effect also plays a major role in how we form first impressions.
Imagine starting a new job and forming an unfavorable opinion of a colleague who was scruffily presented. You might make judgments about their character and professionalism, which years of working with them actually proved to be appallingly wrong.
Primacy effect and recency bias
The primacy effect is not the only time-based bias that can affect our decision-making. Recency bias makes it more likely that we will recall data we have received most recently and give it undue weight.
For example, Air travel is amongst the safest forms of transport available to us. However, a recent plane crash will very often make travelers nervous, not because the journey is less safe, but because recency bias gives undue weight to the recent disaster.
The combination of recency bias and primacy bias means that the hardest-to-remember data fall in the middle of a list. This is part of what is known as the serial position effect (i.e., where items fall in a series of items).
If the teacher were to ask what had been said three or four sentences ago, the information would not be as easily accessible for the student to recall, as the brain has in effect “discarded” it. This is also a consequence of recency bias.
Frequently asked questions about primacy effect
- What is primacy bias?
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Primacy bias, or the primacy effect, is a cognitive bias (a type of mental shortcut) that gives undue prominence to information we receive early in a process (e.g., we are more likely to remember information from the beginning of a presentation than from the middle).
These mental shortcuts (also called “heuristics”) make it possible for our brains to function despite the possibly overwhelming volume of data and stimuli they have to process.
Most of the time, these heuristics work well and allow us to function. At times, though, they can introduce biases that then affect our decision-making negatively.
- What is the priming effect?
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The priming effect should not be confused with the primacy effect or primacy bias. The priming effect describes the way our brains use already-received information to help understand subsequent information.
A common example is that when primed with the word “yellow,” we process the word “banana” more quickly than the word “television,” because we associate bananas with their color.
Another example shows how a visual stimulus can prime us to hear the same sounds differently. An audio recording of the word “bob” will sound like “bob” when a video primes the listener by showing someone mouthing “bob.” However, the same audio, accompanied by the person mouthing “fob,” will be heard as “fob.”
The main interest in the priming effect is in how it helps us to understand mental processes, although it also has uses in, for example, education.
Teachers are often told to structure their lessons into three stages: tell the students what the lesson will be (the priming effect), teach the lesson, and then finally tell the students what they have just been taught (see the recency bias).
