The difference between a harshness bias and a leniency bias is that:
A) the former involves selecting employee ratings in the middle of a scale and the latter involves selecting employee ratings toward the ends.
B) the former involves rating employees more severely and the latter involves rating employees more favorably than their performance merit.
C) the former involves assigning similar scores to items that are near each other on a questionnaire and the latter involves leaving out items placed close together.
D) the former involves judging others more negatively when they are like oneself and the latter involves judging others more positively when they are like oneself.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A harshness bias involves rating employees more severely than their performance merit, while a leniency bias involves rating employees more favorably than their performance merit. Choice A is incorrect because it describes central tendency bias, not harshness and leniency biases. Choice C is incorrect because it describes proximity errors, which are different from harshness and leniency biases. Choice D is incorrect because it describes the similarity bias, which is not related to harshness and leniency biases.

The Difference Between a Harshness Bias and a Leniency Bias