criterion contamination

a situation in which a response measure (the criterion) is influenced by factors that are not related to the concept being measured. Evidence of this may be observed through correlations of the response measure with variables that are conceptually distinct from that measure. For example, performance discrepancies (in dollars sold) among insurance agents may arise not from any actual differences in ability but rather from socioeconomic differences in territories assigned to the salespeople.

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Psychology term of the day

May 10th 2024

self-consistency perspective

a variation of cognitive dissonance theory in which cognitive dissonance is considered particularly likely to occur when an inconsistency involves some aspect of the self. This perspective differs from self-affirmation theory in that dissonance can be reduced only by resolving the specific inconsistency that gave rise to the discomfort; it does not allow for the possibility that dissonance can be reduced by affirming some other aspect of the self. [originally proposed by U.S. psychologist Elliot Aronson (1932– )]