What is primacy bias?

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.