How the primacy effect applies to user testing
The aim of this post is to share one (maybe three) bits of research that you can apply to creating a better online experience.
Research
The primacy effect is a psychological phenomenon that demonstrates how our decision making process is flawed. A study conducted by Asch (1946) found that people find items at the beginning of a sequence easier to recall and this can effect the decisions they make.
Let’s take a closer look at this study…
Group A were shown these personality traits;
Intelligent — Industrious — Impulsive — Critical — Stubborn — Envious
Group B were shown these ones;
Envious — Stubborn — Critical — Impulsive — Industrious — Intelligent
Can you spot the difference? They have the same words but presented in a different order — Group A saw a positive trait first (Intelligent) while group B saw a negative one (Envious).
Can you guess what happen?
Well, when participants in groups A and B were asked something along the lines of, “…what type of person do you think is described by these words?”. The study found that people in group A created a positive representation of the imaginary person while people in group B created a negative one.
So what?
This suggests that the order in which we present information to our users may effect the way they respond to our concepts and designs. Especially when testing multiple in one session.
What can be done to overcome this bias?
- Alternate the order in which you test your designs and concepts
- Triangulate your research methods by using different types of techniques to gather information
- Be clear on your research aims and objectives to avoid testing everything at once
- Use open ended questions and be sure not to lead people
- Conduct a sense check on your approach and own biases regularly
Related Cognitive Biases
- The serial position effect — the tendency of a person to recall the first and last items in a series better than the middle items.
- The recency effect — the tendency to weigh recent events more heavily than earlier events
If you want more information on cognitive biases
- Cognitive Bias: Concept definition — Interaction Design Foundation provide a good summary of these biases and also great online courses in this space — check them out!
- Cognitive Bias Cheat Sheet — Buster Benson has done a great job of organising the Wikipedia list of cognitive biases into something you can digest. Thanks!
Follow the UX and Psychology Community @uxandpsych — sharing research on what makes people tick to create better online experiences. We also run a MeetUp once a month in Melbourne!
