Abstract
The psychophysical hysteresis effect (Stevens, 1957) was examined in judgments of lifted weights by two groups of 20 Ss in an attempt to determine the relative functional significance of the two standards employed in the task. It was concluded that the effect is determined primarily by the characteristics of the standard presented first on each trial and that expermental manipulations which increase the saliency of this stimulus increase the magnitude of the effect. Psychopysical hysteresis may accordingly be regarded as an example of the operation of a general tendency to underestimate the magnitude of the difference between a standard and comparison stimulus.

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