Forceful Phantom Firsts: Framing Experiences as Firsts Amplifies Their Influence on Judgment

Abstract

First experiences are highly influential. Here, the authors show that nonfirst experiences can be made to seem like firsts and, consequently, to have a disproportionate influence on judgment. In six experiments, one piece of a series of information was framed to appear to have “first” status: For example, a weather report that appeared at the end of a sequence of weather reports happened to correspond to the first day of a vacation, and a customer review that appeared at the end of a sequence of hotel reviews happened to be the new year's first review. Such information had greater influence on subsequent judgments (e.g., of the next day's weather, of the hotel's quality) than identical information not framed as a first. This effect seems to arise largely because “phantom first” pieces of information receive greater weight, but not necessarily more attention, than other pieces of information.