Standardization Within Subjects: A Critique of Ben‐Shakhar's Conclusions

A recent study (Ben‐Shakhar. 1985) reported evidence in favor of standardizing skin conductance response measures within individuals as compared to the Paintal Index (phasic range‐correction) or to raw responses. Notwithstanding the possible efficiency of within‐individual standardization as a means to reduce individual differences in responsivity, this critique is intended to direct attention to three sources of bias that severely limit the generalizability of Ben‐Shakbar's evidence: the response magnitude bias, the bias from unequal numbers of stimuli, and the enhanced correlation of response and standardizing measure. In order to illustrate the range of results obtained from these transformations, an artificial data set was generated based upon the design and statistical procedures employed by Ben‐Shakhar.