Relative judgment: A phenomenon and a theory

An experiment is described in which it was demonstrated that relative judgments of the more probable of two statements are quicker if the statements are both probable rather than improbable. For judgments of the less probable, the reverse result was obtained. This phenomenon is discussed in relation to various theories of judgment and choice. A theory is presented which assumes that judgment involves a relation between a stimulus and a word and follows Thurstone’s notion that stimuli differ in their discrirninal dispersions. This new theory is shown to be consistent with recent results in psycholinguistics.