Why does the first time always seem more impressive than all the time?

Question

For instance, let's say one of my brothers always makes the honour role, but my other one never does.

Then one year they both do. The brother who never gets it will most likely be paid more attention to, even though brother A always gets it. Should all the time be overshadowed by one time?

Answer 1

The law of diminishing returns.

Answer 2

When you do the same thing all the time, it loses its meaning and "specialness".  You can become apathetic toward whatever-it-is, and take it for granted.

When the first time is a result of a lot of hard work, or a lot of expectation, on the other hand, it's a big deal.  It's new, unique, and exciting - very big deal.

To go with your example:  Brother A should still be congratulated for making honor roll, even though it happens all the time.  Brother B should also be congratulated for his hard work - he earned it.  Both brothers should be happy for each other's accomplishments, as well.

Answer 3

Since something happens all the time, people become used to it and it loses its appeal and impressiveness. Something people have never seen before would be a new experience, and would thusly seem more impressive.

In my opinion, however, "all the time" situations are more impressive because they continue happening and are persistent even though difficult to achieve, whereas a "first time" situation may just have been luck or chance (so no, I don't think all the time should be overshadowed by first time, unless the first time took significantly more effort to achieve once than all the time took to keep up his achievements).