Reference:: R: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
First impressions (like you on a job interview), first prices, and first actions (like buying your first coffee at Starbucks) have a disproportionally strong impact on our behavior because they set an anchor.
The anchor works in two ways: qualitatively and quantitatively.
Qualitatively: your mind will relate everything to that first experience.
(We can't help but compare things constantly: P: Everything is relative)
You will relate today's price of a big mac to that when you first had it; you will compare ; (unfortunately) you will compare your next dose of a drug that when you took it for the first time; and so on.
Quantitatively: the first time will significantly increase the likelihood of repeating that experience. It will set the first instance for the familiarity bias. Your body will think "If I did this before, then it's probably good, so I'll do it again." This is how the cycle (virtuous or vicious) begins. After that, every next time gets easier and easier—you're building momentum. Doing something for the first time puts you in the category of that thing. From then everything changes. It's like creating internal social proof—social proof of yourself to yourself.
Btw., familiarity bias is social proof to oneself. (It might be called personal proof.)
This is also a result of the energy bias: PN: To persuade help the mind save energy
Your first cigarette might be one of the thousands you're going to smoke. Your first iPhone might be one of the tens you'll buy. Your first choice to order food from Uber Eats instead of cooking by yourself might be the beginning of bourgeois behavior.
I've experienced it myself numerous times. For instance, a couple of years ago I started ordering catering. Instead of cooking for myself, I was receiving meals for the whole day delivered to my door. It cost around 80 zł; cooking by myself cost me twice less. Although previously I wasn't spending more than 40 zł daily on food, from the day when I started ordering catering my budget has risen to 80 zł. I considered everything below a saving.
One important caveat here is that anchors exist within categories. For instance, a price of a computer won't influence your decision to order Chinese food; it will only influence your decision in terms of buying a new computer.
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Know all of this, it may turn out that you do many things unconsciously.
Because the power of anchor resides within a category, if you want to regain power of it, you need to influence the category.
If you want to differentiate yourself from your competitors you have to place yourself in another category or create a new (like Starbucks, Bullet Proof Coffee, McDonalds, )
To get rid of the anchor you need to put them in another category or zoom out.
Btw., zooming out seems to be an universal way to control our irrationalities.
Relevant notes (PN: )/questions (Q:):
Some companies, knowing the power of anchoring, engineer their customers first moment with their product to be the best possible and the most memorable. One of such companies is Apple. If you're an Apple customer, I bet you can remember the moment of opening your first Apple product. The minimalistic design, elegant interior of the package,
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P: The first times are disproportionally powerful (anchoring): we relate things to the first experience more strongly.