categorical scale

a sequence of numbers that identifies items as belonging to mutually exclusive categories. For example, a categorical scale for the political party affiliation of a group of Americans might use 1 to denote Republican, 2 to denote Democrat, and 3 to denote Independent. When the number sequence has a meaningful order a categorical scale is more precisely called an ordinal scale; when it is devoid of such meaningful order it is known as a nominal scale.

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Psychology term of the day

February 23rd 2025

majority influence

social pressure exerted by the greater part of a group on individual members and smaller factions within the group. The majority tends to push for conformity and stability, and members usually respond to this either by accepting the majority’s position as their own (conversion) or by conforming publicly but retaining their own position privately (compliance). Compare minority influence.