FAA Fundamentals of Instructing (FOI)Assessment and CritiqueMedium
During a series of stage checks, an evaluator observes an outstanding applicant perform a flawless short-field landing, then immediately evaluates the next applicant's competent but average landing as 'poor' by comparison, even though it met the standard. This rating error is called:
- ACentral tendency error
- BHalo effect
- CContrast effect
- DLeniency error
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Contrast effect
The contrast effect occurs when an evaluator's judgment of one performance is skewed by comparison to a recently observed performance rather than being assessed against the actual standard. Here the average landing was unfairly judged because it followed an exceptional one.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Central tendency error means avoiding extremes, which is not what happened here.
- B. Halo effect involves one trait influencing overall judgment of the same person, not comparison between people.
- D. Leniency error is general over-grading, not comparison-based bias.
Contrast Effect
A rating bias in which an evaluator judges a performance relative to a recently observed different performance rather than against the actual standard.
- Common in back-to-back evaluations like checkrides
- Can unfairly inflate or deflate scores
- Mitigated by grading strictly against fixed ACS/PTS standards
Memory trick: Compare to the last one, not the standard = contrast trap.