Even with humans, I wonder if self-reports of apparently cardinal pain intensities are just preferences over merely ordinal pain intensities, or otherwise imposing some cardinal structure that doesn’t actually exist in the pain itself. How could you tell?
Joel Michell argues that the theory of conjoint measurement provides indirect tests for whether psychological constructs are quantitative. I do not yet understand the approach in much detail or the arguments for alternative approaches.
Even with humans, I wonder if self-reports of apparently cardinal pain intensities are just preferences over merely ordinal pain intensities, or otherwise imposing some cardinal structure that doesn’t actually exist in the pain itself. How could you tell?
Joel Michell argues that the theory of conjoint measurement provides indirect tests for whether psychological constructs are quantitative. I do not yet understand the approach in much detail or the arguments for alternative approaches.