INFORMATION-PROCESSING IN SIMILARITY JUDGMENTS

To account for expert information processing of similarity judgments o n objects characterized by several attributes, a flexible model, inspi red by works of Montgomery (1983) and Barthelemy & Mullet (1986, 1992) is presented and illustrated on the basis of data collected from expe rienced subjects. This model coordinates three types of rules: thresho ld rules, conjunctive rules and disjunctive rules. It is based on the principle that a 'bounded consensus rule' is the major rule and that a ll others are merely employed to obtain a consensus structure quickly Three basic principles are incorporated in the model: (i) a parsimony principle, (ii) a reliability principle, (iii) a decidability principl e. The model can be represented as a process (flowchart) or as a formu la (equation).