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Enjoying Your Work Richard Brislin |
Mothers and politicians
have a point -- remember
now and thenThe president of the financial services company where Carol Summers worked asked her to orient a new employee. Carol scheduled a meeting with Steve Burris during his second day at work.
When talking about the company and the experiences of employees, Carol found that she was drawing from her memories of what happened during her first six months at the company. Or, she found that she talked about what had been happening during the last three weeks. Since she had worked at the company for eight years, Carol wondered if she was overemphasizing events that occurred early and very recently in her employment.
Carol has encountered issues related to primacy and recency. When people enter life experiences that are unfamiliar, they remember what happened very early during these experiences. This is called the primacy effect. For example, people remember events during the first few months of a new job. During these months, they want to learn company norms and the rules for being considered a success. Since they learn these critical issues during their early months, events that led to the learning stick in their minds. After they learn company norms and rules, they no longer need to have detailed memories of their day-to-day experiences in their company.
In addition to good memories for early experiences, people remember what happened to them recently. People can tell what they had for dinner two nights ago, but probably not on a specific date two months ago. Recent events are still fresh in people's minds and people can tell others about them. In addition to her early experiences in the company, Carol can tell Steve about interesting events that have occurred during the last few weeks. This is called the recency effect.
Primacy and recency can be seen in the advice given by mothers and politicians. Mothers tell their children, "Behave well when you meet people for the first time since first impressions are lasting." Mothers are correct because they are giving advice based on primacy. Early encounters with unfamiliar others will stick in people's minds. People want to come to conclusions about individuals they have just met. Since there is no long background of encounters, early events have a great impact.
Seasoned politicians tell less experienced colleagues, "Be ready to tell voters what you have done for them during the six months prior to your reelection. Don't expect them to remember what you did two years ago." These politicians are also correct and are basing their advice on the recency effect. People have many experiences listening to politicians and know what impresses them and what does not. Given that they have to vote for many candidates running for different offices, people cannot be expected to remember everything about the candidates. Voters are likely to remember what has happened recently when they make choices among a slate of candidates.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
The purpose of this column is to increase understanding of
human behavior as it has an impact on the workplace. Given the amount
of time people spend at work, job satisfaction should ideally be high and
it should contribute to general life happiness. Enjoyment can increase as
people learn more about workplace psychology, communication, and group influences.
Richard Brislin is a professor in the College of Business Administration,
University of Hawaii. He can be reached through the
College Relations Office: cro@cba.hawaii.edu