Theory of Comparative Judgment

The Theory of Comparative Judgment suggests that when people evaluate options, they don’t assign fixed scores but compare options directly against each other. Instead of rating each item independently, individuals make pairwise comparisons to determine which one is better or worse. These comparisons are then used to rank all options consistently. This method aligns with how humans naturally assess choices and helps create more reliable and nuanced rankings, especially when evaluating subjective qualities like preference or taste. It’s widely used in psychological testing, decision-making, and rating systems.