Definition of "Primary Effect"
"Primary effect" can be defined as any direct impact one agent has on another, as opposed to any secondary, indirect effect. The term has applications in environmental, psychological and business contexts.
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Psychology
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In psychology, primary effect can define a phenomenon involving memory and comprehension.When learning things or hearing a list of items, people are more likely to remember and have a clearer understanding of the first items mentioned. The likelihood that the person will remember these better than subsequent items in the middle of the list is explained as the primary effect.
Recency Effect
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A related psychological term is the recency effect, which describes being able to remember and understand the final items in a list more so than those in the middle.
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Environmental Context
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Primary effect is also used in environmental discussions and defined in the environmental dictionary as "an effect where the stressor acts directly on the ecological component interest, not on other parts of the ecosystem." (See References.) An example is heightened carbon dioxide and average surface temperature as the primary effects of global warming.
Business Context
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In business practices, primary effect describes initial behavior in business interactions' setting the tone for all future actions, particularly with superiors or clientele. For example, a supervisor who sees an employee off task before formal introductions are made is unlikely to change his impression of the employee even after the employee exhibits a consistently appropriate work ethic.
"Primacy Effect" and Marketing
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Primary effect is often used interchangeably with "primacy effect" to describe many of the same principles, and is a concept in marketing as well. In the marketing arena, primacy effect describes the likelihood that the first interaction a person has with advertising for a particular brand will continue to influence her perception of the brand, even after drastic changes to the company's image.
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