Influence of first position effect on emotional response

- Emotional response measurements are biased by the first position effect.
- First position effect occurs regardless of emotional lexicons, scales and products.
- First position effect polarises the emotions scores.
- Use of a dummy sample is recommended on self-reported emotional response studies.
- First position effect could also be important when studying other aspects of consumer response.

Previous research has demonstrated that overall acceptability of first-tasted product is overvalued. This paper aims to analyse first position effect on emotional response, carrying out two separate studies with different products (chocolate and beer), emotional vocabularies (EsSense profile® and consumer-led lexicon) and types of scales (5-point scale and line scale). Our results demonstrate that first position effect is ubiquitous, although it does not affect all emotional terms. An approach to control this effect is also presented. Sensory researchers need to be aware of the influence of first position effect on emotional response elicited by food and beverage consumption.