Last In, First Out?
Have you ever heard about the serial position effect? If you want to come out on top, according to some psychologists at Carnegie Mellon University, make sure you are at the end of the queue; it doesn’t always pay to rush to be first.
Obviously if you’re an athlete you want to be first. Or queuing for scarce tickets. But do you want to be first if you’re being judged in some way, say at a job interview? Or in a contest?
Maybe not.
Bruine De Bruin studied European figure-skating competitions and the Eurovision Song Contest, a pop song competition that has taken place in Europe since 1956. I love it! I’ve had several euro parties but to be honest rarely remember the end. Bruin’s research showed that people who came towards the end of the contest tended to get better marks.
Wandi Bruine De Bruin found that scores increased as the competitions progressed, not only when judges are asked to evaluate all candidates at the end of the contest, but also when they are asked to judge each individual performance after it has been completed.
Bruine De Bruin conducted some of her research at Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands. Wändi Bruine de Bruin is currently Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Behavioral Science at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California (USC), and director of the USC Behavioral Science and Policy Initiative.
She commented: “A friend of mine asked to go last in a series of job interviews, after hearing about my research. She got the job. I like to think that she got the job because she has great skills, but order effects may have tipped the balance for her.”
Serial Position Effect
This is called the serial position effect.
Serial position effect is a phenomenon whereby candidates who are seen last in job interviews, or exams, tend to be viewed more favourably. I can relate to this from my own experience of interviewing candidates. The first couple are your benchmarks. And after a day of interviewing (exhausting!) you inevitably have a better memory of the last person you’ve seen. I have definitely appointed the first person I’ve seen in the past but I never kept a score.
Go Last – It Might Give You An Edge
So, if you have a big interview coming up can you get yourself seen last? It might just give you the advantage to get you noticed and appointed!
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Posted on March 17th, 2025 by Jane
