First, the first cause effect and recency effect's concept.
The first cause effect refers to the influence of the impression formed by the initial contact information on our future behavior and evaluation, in fact, it refers to the influence of the "first impression"
Recency effect refers to the phenomenon that the newly acquired information has a greater impact than the original information in the process of overall impression formation.
Luciens used written materials describing the life of a boy named Jim as experimental materials. In the first paragraph, Jim is described as a warm and outgoing person. Another paragraph, on the other hand, describes him as a cold and introverted person. In the experiment, he combined two paragraphs:
The first group: the words describing Jim's enthusiasm and extroversion appear first, and then the words of indifference and introversion appear.
The second group: the words that describe Jim's indifference and introversion appear first, and then the words that describe Jim's warmth and extroversion appear.
The third group: only show the words describing Jim's enthusiasm and extroversion.
The fourth group: only the words describing Jim's coldness and introversion are displayed.
Lucians asked four groups of subjects to read a set of written materials respectively, and then answered, "What kind of person is Jim?" As a result, 78% of the subjects in the first group thought Jim was friendly. In the second group, only 18% of the subjects thought Jim was friendly. In the third group, 95% of the subjects thought Jim was friendly; Only 3% of the subjects in the fourth group thought Jim was friendly.
The results of this study prove that the order of information presentation will have an impact on social cognition, and the information presented first has a greater impact than the information presented later.
Another psychologist also did an experiment: he asked two students to do half of the 30 questions correctly, but asked student A to do the right question in the first 15 question as far as possible, while asked student B to do the right question in the last 15 question as far as possible, and then asked some subjects to evaluate the two students: Who is smarter than the other one? The results show that most of the subjects think that student A is smarter. This is influenced by the first impression. So the first cause effect is also called the first impression effect.
Lu Qinsi further used the above written materials for research, and found that if some other activities were inserted between the two paragraphs, such as doing math problems and listening to stories, most subjects would judge Jim according to the information obtained after the activities, that is to say, the information obtained recently had a greater impact on their social perception, that is, they were influenced by recency effect.
No matter whether the first cause effect or recency effect is in the majority, there are exceptions (a few people) in the above experiments. Obviously, in addition to the information content and presentation order, there are secrets that have not been discovered. So, what is the secret?
Second, the mechanism.
The explanation of "perceptual growth model" is that when the first external stimulus information occurs, it will form memory traces, that is, the first impression. The memory trace may be permanent memory or temporary memory. For example, a tourist from afar has met for a long time and has never met again. When we mention him, exciting energy can only enter this only permanent memory trace, which shows how important the first impression is. The memory traces produced by the above two experiments can also be temporary memories, which may not necessarily become the subjects' permanent memories. However, in the experimental environment at that time, the temporary memory area (temporary contact area) (hereinafter referred to as pre-area) formed by initial contact with stimulus information was in a state full of excitation energy, and then the excitation energy diffused, which would produce evaluation. Because of the stored energy of excitement, these evaluations have always been in the "infiltration layer of excitement". With the continuous emergence of later information, the temporary contact area occupied by excitation energy will expand and change. Because there are not many reading materials in the experiment, the temporary contact area formed by the stimulus information before and after will exist at the same time, and the evaluation produced in the early stage will also exist, so the first cause effect appears. This is the first case. The simple formula is: pre-information+pre-evaluation+post-information = first cause effect.
The exciting energy in the temporary contact area formed by the later information will also spread, and it will also produce evaluation, that is, changing the evaluation of the previous evaluation will produce recency effect. This is the second case, abbreviated as: pre-information+post-information+post-evaluation = recency effect.
Third, analysis
In addition to the above mechanisms, we also discovered the secrets related to the first cause effect and recency effect by using the following perceptual growth model:
(A) there is no reason for post-evaluation in the first cause effect.
1. In the temporary memory, before the later information could spread, the subjects were asked to make an evaluation (or could not wait to make an evaluation), so the "stream of consciousness" and "turn around" looked for the answer, and the excitement energy in the later region was less, which could not spread to the evaluation direction they contacted, and thus could not produce the later evaluation. This is the reason why most people have the first cause effect in Luciens' experiment.
2. In long-term memory, there is no reason for post-evaluation in the first cause effect:
1 There is no post-stimulus information, and of course there will be no post-evaluation. For example, the above-mentioned distant visitors, there is no goodbye, naturally only early impressions and evaluations.
The same reason as the above temporary memory is that the later information has not been disseminated and there is no later evaluation.
(b) There is no reason to pre-evaluate the near-term effects.
1. In temporary memory, the excitation energy in the pre-evaluation area has disappeared and entered the inhibition state, and even some people's pre-information area has entered the inhibition state. Therefore, only post-evaluation will lead to recency effect. Some other activities, such as doing math problems and listening to stories, were also inserted in the experiment. As a result, the "stream of consciousness" entered the area stimulated by these activities, so the excited energy stored in the early information area was greatly reduced, and some people even entered a state of inhibition. At the same time, the excitation energy in the pre-evaluation area, that is, the excitation energy formed by the diffusion of the excitation energy in the pre-information area, is already weak, and will first enter the inhibition state, that is, the pre-evaluation is gone, so recency effect can only appear.
2. In the long-term memory, the first impression will gradually become shallow with the passage of life, and the memory impression will become more and more forgotten. When the late information appears, the excitation energy from the late information area is easy to diffuse to produce the late evaluation, but it is difficult to diffuse to the forgotten "first impression trace", and it is even more impossible to continue to diffuse from the "first impression trace" to produce the early evaluation.
(c) recency effect is basically equal to the first cause effect.
If the "first impression" area is suppressed due to "forgetting" and other reasons, then the subsequent stimulus information is essentially equivalent to the latest stimulus information, and the resulting evaluation phenomenon seems to be recency effect, which is essentially the first cause effect.
Difference of information before and after stimulation
If the stimulus information does not change much before and after, then the evaluation is basically the same. If the bankrupt rich man appears in front of the TV again, his gorgeous clothes and smile will remain unchanged, and the latest impression and evaluation of the unsuspecting audience will remain unchanged. This "invariance" is regarded as the first cause effect.
If the stimulus information changes greatly in the early and late stages, it may change the previous impression and lead to recency effect. If you see a rich man you know with a dull expression, he is squeezing a bus. The contrast is huge, which can immediately change the previous impression and lead to recency effect.
If the stimulus information in the early and late stages changes, or even changes greatly, recency effect may not appear, but the information in the early and late stages is stored together and becomes data for mutual reference. As shown in the above example, the rich people who crowded the bus can consider themselves bankrupt (recency effect) or just suspect. The key is the individual's habitual attitude towards new things. If you know that this rich man is a cautious man, how could he suddenly go bankrupt? Thought of here will have doubts; If you are a person who is good at independent thinking and will carefully analyze everything, then why does he crowd the bus? Why is he depressed? Naturally, we will find many possible reasons and will not jump to conclusions.
(5) belongs to the category of "judgment"
Under the condition that both pre-evaluation and post-evaluation exist, individual evaluation will only be one of them, which belongs to the category of "judgment" in psychology in essence. That is to say, at this time, there is only one phenomenon similar to the first cause effect or recency effect's phenomenon, not the real first cause effect or recency effect.
(6) Mid-term evaluation
In the whole process of information receiving, according to the different information content, evaluation can be generated at any time in the whole process. The role of midway evaluation: it can be the late evaluation of the early evaluation or the early evaluation of the late evaluation. In a word, the ever-changing shape of the exciting energy region in the knowledge structure of human brain produces ever-changing cognitive results. This kind of cognitive result is the most common among human beings, but it is not as "distinct timeliness" as the first cause effect and recency effect.
Fourthly, it affects the first cause effect and recency effect's perceptual organization.
1, the influence of "attention" on the first cause effect: psychological research has long found that the first cause effect plays an important role in the contact with strangers, because the first contact will be particularly serious, which is essentially that the individual's attention plays an important role. "Attention" carries a lot of exciting energy and will leave a particularly deep impression, and the resulting pre-evaluation will be quite profound, so most people will pay attention to the first cause effect.
2. Lack of "independent thinking" system (note 1): People who have no independent thinking ability can't go back and analyze or review their understanding after the first cause effect, so they can't change the influence of the first cause effect.
Psychological research has long found that recency effect plays an important role among familiar people. Between long-term life and people who have an affair, many people often take the last impression of each other as the basis for understanding and evaluating each other. So couples turn against each other, friends break up, cooperation becomes confrontation, and so on. On the contrary, former opponents immediately became friends, "bad guys" immediately became "good guys" and so on. Being good at independent thinking is a systematic organization established by individuals within their own knowledge structure. People who didn't form this organization, once recency effect happened, can't make a comparative analysis based on historical events. Therefore, they can't change the one-sided, objective, unfair and incorrect evaluation of recency effect.
(Note 1): For more detailed knowledge of "independent thinking system", please see this blog post on the psychological basis of educational reform, which has a detailed introduction.
3. Personality and personality: According to the perceptual growth model, an individual's personality and personality are the result of congenital inheritance and acquired cultivation, and their essence is a self-constructed and unique perceptual network organization. For example, a grumpy person shows poor emotional control ability and low emotional intelligence because he has not built a "neural circuit" for emotional control, or this "neural circuit" is not spacious enough and is easy to fail (that is, it is in a state of inhibition). Another example is a stubborn person, and heredity is an important factor. The acquired education can make this "nerve line" more spacious and profound, and become a strong-willed and indomitable person (on the contrary, stubborn). Similarly, acquired education can build many lines to suppress this "nerve line". For example, education such as "three people must have a teacher", "listening to others is clear, listening to others is dark" and "the wisdom of the masses is infinite" can make stubborn people accept opinions rationally and modestly without losing their opinions. The influence of personality and personality on the first cause effect and recency effect can happen at that time, and it can also be changed after it happens. The personality structure that has obvious influence on the first cause effect and recency effect mainly includes:
(1) Lack of self-reflection ability: People who always find excuses to shirk their responsibilities when things happen are always the fault of others, so they have a strong sense of self-protection and lack self-reflection ability. Therefore, they can only always "follow their feelings" and let the first cause effect and recency effect "give full play".
(2) Selfishness: The reason why Lei Feng became a spiritual model of an era lies in the scarcity of this quality. No one can deny the fact that almost everyone is selfish, but the degree of selfishness is very different. The more selfish people are, they will feel unhappy when they encounter things that are not conducive to themselves, even small things that can't fully satisfy their wishes. Bad mood is a powerful "exciting source" and "attracting point", which can even attract all the exciting energy to it, thus producing irrational phenomena. In short, the more selfish you are, the easier it is to feel that others are sorry for you. The more selfish you are, the harder it is to suppress your emotions, the harder it is to treat events fairly, and the harder it is to change your attitude.
(3) Stubbornness: Stubbornness is essentially an organization composed of many "deep neural circuits". The deeper the trace, the more difficult it is to fade and suppress, so it shows what people call stubbornness. To eliminate the negative effects of stubbornness, the best way is to set up many circuits to suppress these "neural circuits" mentioned above.
(4) Ungrateful: Gratitude is the result of acquired education and the "neural circuit" for understanding and forgiving each other. Without gratitude, you lose the possibility of understanding and forgiving each other. In real life, father and son turn against each other and friends turn against each other, which is incomprehensible. Many of them are related to not knowing how to be grateful.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) postscript
Only by understanding the mechanism of the first cause effect and recency effect, and recognizing the cognitive errors and reasons they may cause, can we correct and eliminate their negative effects. There are many teachings in the traditional culture of the motherland that should be inherited, which is very helpful to overcome the primary cause effect and the negative effect of recency effect. For example, "if you don't look at each other for three days", "if you have a threesome, you must learn from your teacher", "You can't judge a person by his appearance, let alone rely on a large number of people", "The kindness of a dripping water should be reciprocated by a gushing spring", "You can only know the kindness of your parents when you raise children", "Everything is clear and biased" and so on. Of course, the best way is to study psychology. People who don't make or make fewer cognitive mistakes are almost like "saints". Learn psychology, popularize psychology. Only when there are more sages and "saints" in the world can human society become a truly happy society.