ON THE PROBLEM OF CATEGORY SCALES IN PSYCHOPHYSICS
- 1 March 1962
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Scandinavian Journal of Psychology
- Vol. 3 (1) , 81-87
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9450.1962.tb01253.x
Abstract
Eisler, H. On the problem of category scales in psychophysics. Scand. J. Psychol., 1962, 3, 81–87.—In the first Part of the paper it is shown that, if three assumptions are granted, the category scale must be logarithmically related to the magnitude scale: K =α log φ+β. In the second part of the paper, the relation K =α log (kφ+ q) +β is derived, starting from the assumptions that the category scale is a pure function of discrimination and that discrimination is appropriately described by the linear generalization of Weber's law for prothetic continua. We can reconcile these two formulas by defining the zero‐point of the magnitude scale as the point where variability vanishes.Keywords
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