[What is the origin of the frequency effect in absolute judgment? A contribution to the theory of judgment]

The same stimuli receive higher ratings when the distribution in which they appear is positively skewed than when it is negatively skewed (frequency effect). The effect depends on the number of stimuli (stimulus effect) and the number of categories (category effect). The effect may be caused by one of the following tendencies: (a) the tendency to assign the same number of stimuli to each category (frequency model; Parducci, 1965; Parducci & Perrett, 1972); (b) the tendency to exaggerate the difference between the preceding stimulus and the present one (contrast model; Haubensak, 1984); and (c) the tendency to assign the same categories to the same stimuli (consistency model; Haubensak 1989, 1992a, 1992b, 1993). The three models are briefly described and evaluated in the light of old and new data. The consistency model seems superior to its competitors in several respects.