In three experiments, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business found that people consistently preferred things presented first while making quick choices, as opposed to those offered in second and sequential positions.
The findings, published in the journal PLoS ONE, have practical applications in a variety of settings, including consumer marketing, the researchers said.
"Our research shows that managers, for example, in management or marketing, may want to develop their business strategies knowing that first encounters are preferable to their clients or consumers, study co-author Dana Carney was quoted as saying by LiveScience.
In the study, the participants were asked to evaluate three different groups, including two teams, two male sales associates and two female sales associates.
After being presented with each group's options, the team questioned the participants on their choices both by asking their preference up front and then having them complete a reaction-time task adapted from cognitive psychology in which participants' automatic, unconscious preference for each option was assessed.
Regardless of whom people said they preferred, on the unconscious, cognitive measure of preference, participants always preferred the first team or person to whom they were introduced, the researchers found.
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To test the theory on consumer goods, the team then asked over 200 passengers at a train station to select one of two pieces of similar bubble gum within a second of seeing the choices. It was found that when thinking fast, the bubble gum presented first was the preferable choice in most cases.
The researchers believe several factors could be behind the study's results, including that the preference for the initial choice has its origins in an evolutionary adaptation favouring firsts.
The historic concept of the established "pecking order" also supports their findings, Carney added.