Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

arrow_back_ios_new
MENTAL MODEL · M1032

Central Tendency Bias

Central Tendency Bias
DecideHigh supportDecision Science
Included
account_tree

Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

Raters tend to avoid giving extreme high or low scores, clustering most ratings around the average (e.g., 3 or 4).

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Reject mediocrity. When scoring or making decisions, force yourself to use forced distribution or remove the middle option (e.g., only allow scores of 1, 2, 4, 5) to elicit true differentiation.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Central tendency error is an evaluation bias: raters tend to give most people middle scores, avoiding the high and low ends, leading to loss of differentiation and inability to distinguish good from bad. It weakens the incentive and diagnostic functions of performance appraisal.

MINIMUM ACTION

In progress 0/1

Practice this model in one real situation:

Check to track your progress (stored locally)
Learning progress0%
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more

Source support: Explicit

  • link
    baike.baidu.comhttps://baike.baidu.com/item/趋中效应/4382498ZH · Explicit
    verified

RELATED MODELS

Related model

Segal's Law

An adage using two disagreeing watches to illustrate uncertainty from conflicting sources.

arrow_forwardRelated model

The Idea Maze

A good idea is not a momentary inspiration, but a maze map containing multiple paths, dead ends, turning points, and treasures.

arrow_forwardRelated model

Double Diamond Model

Proposed by the British Design Council.

arrow_forward