Recency bias

Recency bias is a cognitive bias that occurs when a person gives excessive weight to the most recent events, behaviours or results when carrying out an evaluation or making a decision. As a result, information from earlier periods may be overlooked, even though it is equally relevant to assessing the overall situation.

This bias can distort the perception of a person's actual performance. A recent positive result may lead to their overall contribution being overestimated, while a mistake or negative situation shortly before an evaluation may have a disproportionate impact on the final assessment.

Some situations in which it may occur include:

• Performance evaluation: focusing mainly on the most recent results or behaviours instead of considering the entire period.
• Recruitment: giving greater importance to the answers or impressions generated during the final stages of an interview.
• Internal promotion: making decisions based primarily on a person's most recent achievements.
• Feedback: focusing the conversation on recent events while leaving out other relevant aspects of the person's career.
• Talent management: identifying a person's potential based on their most recent performance without analysing their overall development.