| Abstract: | 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. |
