Hi! Thanks for engaging. Yes, the issue you raise does get discussed quite a bit, and is much worried about (by effective altruists but not in general). I’ve got a working paper here where I review the theory and evidence and tentatively conclude people probably do interpret the difference between each unit as having the same value (i.e. the scales are interpreted linearly).
My colleague, Casper Kaiser, who is also an HLI trustee, has a more recent paper which shows an approximately linear relationship between reports and later behaviour.
Internally at HLI we’re working on doing our own survey on this stuff too!
Hi! Thanks for engaging. Yes, the issue you raise does get discussed quite a bit, and is much worried about (by effective altruists but not in general). I’ve got a working paper here where I review the theory and evidence and tentatively conclude people probably do interpret the difference between each unit as having the same value (i.e. the scales are interpreted linearly).
My colleague, Casper Kaiser, who is also an HLI trustee, has a more recent paper which shows an approximately linear relationship between reports and later behaviour.
Internally at HLI we’re working on doing our own survey on this stuff too!
Awesome, will check it those out.