Application of the psychophysical law to performance evaluation

Abstract

In the area of job performance, it was hypothesized that evaluations, e.g., "poor" to "excellent," were based ont the observation of "performance specimens" where a performance specimen is defined as "an incident of relevant performance which at the time of observation was classed as uncommonly effective or uncommonly ineffective." It was further hypothesized that the psychophysical law (y = kx n ) would describe the relationship between the number of specimens observed (x) and resulting evaluations (y) of performance. Finally, it was hypothesized that Steven's criterion for prothetic continua would be satisfied—concave downward curve when ratio estimation scale values for sets of performance specimens are plotted against corresponding category scale values. Using simulated performance ratings as well as actual performance evaluations (performance ratings of apprentices, professors, supervisors, and executives) the above hypotheses appear to have been verified. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)