In the present study of order of communications, 292 introductory psychology students listened to a tape containing contradictory descriptions of 8 hypothetical persons and then indicated their impressions. The materials used came from 3 earlier studies all of which had reported strong primacy effects. The present study showed 4 primacy effects, 2 significant, and 4 recency effects, 2 significant. Primacy versus recency effects proved to be highly predictable from ratings of loudness, forcefulness, and clarity, even though such differences were not large. The study illustrates the vulnerability of order effects to minor variables.
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