CONFIGURALITY IN JUDGMENT - IS IT A BIAS

Past research has shown that the relationship between cue and judgment often depends on the level of other cues (configural relationship). I t is not clear, however, if this relationship is environmentally appro priate. To examine this issue, I compare configural models of the judg ment with configural models of the criterion associated with this judg ment. Two databases are analyzed. In one, the cues are the parents' ed ucational level, the judgment is the educational expectations of the c hild, and the criterion is the actual educational achievement, In the other, the cues are the MMPI scores of psychiatric patients, the judgm ent. is the clinical psychologists' estimation of the degree of pathol ogy, and the criterion is the actual pathology. The analysis of bath d atabases revealed that configurality characterizes the judgment but no t the criterion.