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Primacy effects in self‐attribution of ability 1
Author(s) -
Feldman Robert S.,
Bernstein Alice G.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1978.tb00194.x
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , task (project management) , social psychology , test (biology) , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , paleontology , management , economics , biology
A bstract Primacy effects in self‐attribution of ability were investigated in an experiment. Subjects' performance on a 30‐item test was experimentally manipulated to reflect one of three patterns: ascending, descending, or random success. It was predicted that there would be a primacy effect in self‐attribution of ability regarding the task when subjects had no previous expectation or anchor to which performance could be assimilated, but that the primacy effect would be attenuated when a previous anchor existed. The presence or absence of a prior anchor was manipulated by describing the task as either a test related to intelligence or a test of an unsual ability, unrelated to previous experience. Results supported the hypothesis that there is a primacy effect in self‐attribution of ability, and that this effect occurs most strongly where an individual has no prior anchor or expectation regarding his ability.