Qu'est-ce que Recency Bias ?

Definition

Recency bias is the mirror of the primacy effect — it causes evaluators to give disproportionate weight to the most recent information they received. In an interview, the candidate's final answers loom largest in memory when scores are assigned afterward, even if earlier parts of the interview were more relevant to the role's requirements.

In practice

Recency bias is particularly pronounced when evaluation is delayed — the longer the gap between observation and scoring, the more memory compresses everything before the final impression. In a panel interview without structured scoring, a candidate who saves their best answer for the last question may be rated higher than a candidate with consistently strong answers but a weak closing. Similarly, the last candidate interviewed in a day often benefits from being fresh in memory. Immediate scoring after each interview section, behavioural anchors for rating scales, and consistent interview length and structure across candidates are the primary countermeasures.

Key takeaway

Memory decays unevenly — score each candidate section by section immediately after the interview, before talking to other panel members or moving to the next candidate.