ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews a competitive test between, two theoretically based explanations of these findings, a normative accuracy model of, and an ecological perspective on, multisource performance measures. The predominant way in which measurement source effects have been interpreted in industrial and organizational psychology is in terms of measurement source bias. Generically, the chapter refers to theoretical perspective that supports this interpretation as a normative accuracy model (NAM). The chapter discusses the test two competing theoretical interpretations, a traditional normative accuracy model that is rooted in classical test theory of true and error scores, an alternative ecological perspective derived from social psychological literature on the accuracy of social judgments. The ecological perspective contends that one of the most important strategies for efficient adjustment to an environment is the detection of invariance or unchanging aspects of that environment. The detection of invariances, constrained and predictable relations in the environment, simplifies perception and action for any organism and thus improves its adaptive potential.
