Those who perform last finish firstMar 01, 2005; Posted 02:16 pm EST (07:16 GMT) A new study has found that in competitions where judges rate participants' performance, scores tend to be higher for those who perform at the end of the competition. The study, conducted by Carnegie Mellon University researcher Wändi Bruine De Bruin, is published in the journal Acta Psychologica.Bruine de Bruin studied figure skating competition and the Eurovision Song Contest, a pop song competition that takes place in Europe and is somewhat like the American television show American Idol where fans watching at home vote on the participants. Those who appeared near the end of the contests earned higher marks from judges than those who performed earlier. The phenomenon, known as the serial position effect, can be found in everyday situations such as job interviews and student exams.The scores increased whether the ratings were made immediately after each participants' performance or at the end of the competition. "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," Bruine De Bruin said.
Bruine De Bruin is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon.
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