What is the cognitive bias 'first rule of thumb' in which the first person influences the impression of the whole group?
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In the field of psychology, it is known that there is a phenomenon known as ' anchoring ' in which the figures in the first line of contact or the like greatly influence subsequent decisions. The results of several studies on social psychology have shown that similar phenomena apply not only to numerical values but also to human evaluations.
The first-member heuristic: Group members labeled “first” influence judgment and treatment of groups.
https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fpspi0000201
Researchers confirm that people judge entire groups based on the performance of its 'first member'
https://phys.org/news/2019-07-people-entire-groups-based-member.html
The research team of Dr. Janina Steinmetz, who is a senior lecturer at marketing at Cass Business School , examined the hypothesis that 'the evaluation for the first member of the group will have a major impact on the evaluation of the entire group'. In order to analyze the seven previous experiments and studies across the board.
In an experiment where customers who have finished accounting at a supermarket cashier evaluate the supermarket, 'If the cashier at the supermarket is badly treated, the customer tends to strictly evaluate the supermarket.' And it was particularly noticeable. On the other hand, the impact of the performance of the store clerks at the second and subsequent cashiers on the evaluation of the supermarket was smaller than that of the first cashier.
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In another experiment, subjects were asked to be staff members of the Immigration Bureau, and were asked to apply for a visa extension for a research team consisting of five international cancer researchers. In this experiment, in the first examination of the first person, if the subject is informed that 'this person has had a serious scandal', all the remaining four people are considered to be incompetent, It is less likely to be granted a visa extension.
Even if the same experiment was given information that the second and subsequent researchers made a failure, the examination results were not significantly affected. These tendencies were common to the results of research on subjects such as student evaluations, athletes' grades and horse racing forecasts.
In this way, the research team calls “the first rule of thumb” the phenomenon that the first person in the group influences the impression of the whole group. Dr. Steinmetz explains the reason for the 'first rule of thumb' to occur, 'It is related to the early influence of the initial members of the organization on backwards.'
For example, it is often the case that 'the policy of the initial member who started the company decides the later corporate culture', but the 'early member' and 'the member who just touched first' in these cases are confused. As a result, the first person in the group will be seen as a representative of the group.
by javi_indy
Dr. Steinmetz says, 'If the first member is great, the whole group is rated as great, and if the first member is badly impressed, the group will receive a bad rating,' He indicated that the first person in contact tends to be the face of the organization.
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