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Related Concept Videos

First Impression01:09

First Impression

First impressions play a crucial role in social perception, shaping how individuals assess others in professional, academic, and interpersonal contexts. Psychological research highlights the significance of cognitive biases, such as the primacy and recency effects, which influence how people interpret and recall information.The Primacy Effect and Cognitive AnchoringThe primacy effect describes the tendency for initial information to impact judgment disproportionately. When individuals encounter...
Serial Position Effect01:03

Serial Position Effect

The serial position effect is a cognitive phenomenon where individuals are more likely to recall the first and last items in a list compared to those in the middle. This effect is divided into the primacy effect and the recency effect. The primacy effect is observed when the initial items in a list are remembered better. This occurs because these items are rehearsed more frequently or receive more elaborative processing, allowing them to be encoded into long-term memory more effectively. For...
Framing Effects03:26

Framing Effects

Information is everywhere and its presentation—such as how and when items are presented—can impact our perceptions and decisions surrounding the info. This broad concept umbrellas framing effects—influences that occur due to the way information is framed in its appearance, whether it’s purely the order or the specific wording of a message. Let’s take a look at numerous ways in which two versions of something can objectively say the same thing, yet we respond in different ways based on the...
First-Order Circuits01:15

First-Order Circuits

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Relationship Formation02:12

Relationship Formation

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First Pass Effect01:12

First Pass Effect

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 20, 2026

Psychophysical Tracking Method to Measure Taste Preferences in Children and Adults
09:17

Psychophysical Tracking Method to Measure Taste Preferences in Children and Adults

Published on: July 16, 2016

First is best.

Dana R Carney1, Mahzarin R Banaji

  • 1Management of Organizations, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America. dcarney@berkeley.edu

Plos One
|July 5, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The first option encountered is often preferred, a phenomenon termed the "first is best" effect. This cognitive bias influences choices in social and consumer contexts, even when encounters are brief.

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 20, 2026

Psychophysical Tracking Method to Measure Taste Preferences in Children and Adults
09:17

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Published on: July 16, 2016

A Novel Method for Involving Women of Color at High Risk for Preterm Birth in Research Priority Setting
14:43

A Novel Method for Involving Women of Color at High Risk for Preterm Birth in Research Priority Setting

Published on: January 12, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Behavioral Economics

Background:

  • Human and animal research indicates a cognitive privilege for the first experience in a series.
  • This suggests a potential bias in decision-making based on the order of information.
  • Previous studies show inconsistencies regarding the effect of order on preference.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of first position on implicit preference and choice.
  • To determine if the "first is best" effect applies across various targets, including people, groups, and products.
  • To differentiate the "first is best" effect from simple valence accentuation.

Main Methods:

  • Three experiments were conducted using targets ranging from individual humans to consumer goods.
  • Implicit preference and choice were measured in response to sequentially presented options.
  • An alternative hypothesis was tested by presenting negative stimuli in the first position.

Main Results:

  • Experiment 1 showed a preference for the first salesperson and first team encountered, even with minimal time differences.
  • Experiment 2 revealed that the first of two consumer items presented rapidly was more likely to be chosen.
  • Experiment 3 confirmed that first position enhances preference even for negative options, ruling out valence accentuation.

Conclusions:

  • A robust "first is best" effect was demonstrated across multiple domains.
  • This bias may stem from evolutionary mechanisms and automaticity in judgment.
  • The "first is best" effect offers a principle to reconcile inconsistencies in order-effects research.