When learning about content from our past lessons, I became more and more interested with the capabilities of the serial position effect. In simple terms, the serial position effect states that we remember what occurs at the beginning and at the end of scenarios more than what occurs in-between. I found this to be true when remembering what happened during movies, recollecting on presentations from peers or even when remembering short-encounters seconds later. In all of these scenarios I found one common denominator: I really could never remember what happened in the middle. But is there a connection between the serial position effect and businesses? Are companies using the serial position effect when I’m watching an advertisement on television? This blog post will briefly discuss how the serial position effect works and its role in advertisements.
The serial position effect was first found by conducting a series of experiments that tested how well participants remembered a series of words given over a certain period of time. The experiment firstly revealed that participants remembered more of what occurred at the beginning of the experiment, known as the primacy effect. The primacy effect works because the words or concepts first understood can be rehearsed more, as there is no other information needing to be remembered. This allows long-term memory to be accessed; thus, further reinforcing each word or concept. On the other end, the recency effect occurs when words or activity are remembered at the end of a scenario. This happens because information has just been understood and is still active in short-term memory when being immediately recalled. The display of these findings are shown by the serial position curve; highlighting the low-points during the middle of presented information (Peterson, 2011).
Furthermore, how the findings of the serial position effect play into marketing and advertising are astonishing. Since we are aware that information in the middle of a list or scenario can be forgotten, advertisements deliberately put more crucial information at the beginning and end of commercials; scaling and presenting their key points in a manner that will benefit them the most. As well, the time-frame of when information is revealed to viewers plays a heavy role in whether companies will place the most important information at the beginning or end (Hamm, 2012). For example, if there will be a longer delay in a decision from a customer after exposure to an advertisement, companies tend to place the most important items first (long-term memory/primacy). However, if asked to make a decision or recall information almost immediately after exposure, companies place the most important items last on the advertisement (short-term memory/recency).
In addition, priming and product placement both play a role in marketing and advertisements with respect to memory and recollection. According to studies, if a customer is viewing an advertisement and sees the price before processing the benefits of the product (pricing primacy), they are more likely to be very aware, articulate and analytical about said item using the price as an anchor. This is true because the primacy effect captured and rehearsed the price before any previous information. However, if the reverse occurs and the benefits of the product are shown before the price (product primacy), customers tend to be more sympathetic to the benefits of the product and the price becomes less critical in making a decision to buy (Birkett, 2016).
In summary, the way our short-term memory and long-term memory work together when rehearsing and recalling information retained semantically or episodically greatly impacts how marketers strategically gear advertisements for the benefit of their company.
References
Birkett, A. (2016). Serial Position Effect: Why Order Matters in Optimization. In www.conversationxl.com. Retrieved October 15, 2016, from http://conversionxl.com/serial-position-effect/
Goldstein, E. (2011). Congitive Psychology (Third ed., pp. 24-76). N.p.: Linda Schreiber-Ganster.
Hamm, T. (2012, September 6). The Primacy and Recency Effect and Your Next Purchase. In www.thesimpledollar.com. Retrieved October 15, 2016, from http://www.thesimpledollar.com/the-primacy-and-recency-effect-and-your-next-purchase/