The Theory and Classification of Criterion Bias

IN that area of psychology concerned with the development of tests and other predictive instruments, psychologists have continually emphasized the need for validation. This insistence is sufficiently pronounced to serve as a trade mark of profes-sional psychologists. It is consistent with this insistence upon validation, that the importance of the criterion problem has been widely recognized. This is particularly true of the many psychologists connected with the various testing programs con-ducted during World War II. However, little attention and less effort have been devoted to a systematic consideration of the problems involved in criterion construction. Publications by Bellows (I), Stuit (13), Toops (iS), Viteles (18) and Guilford (9) are among the few dealing particularly with these problems. Any systematic consideration of the problems involved in criterion construction inevitably leads to the problem of bias;