Stevens' Law (Noun)
Meaning
(psychophysics) the concept that the magnitude of a subjective sensation increases proportional to a power of the stimulus intensity.
Classification
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents.
Examples
- The psychologist's experiment tested Stevens' Law by measuring the perceived brightness of lights of varying intensities.
- Stevens' Law was formulated to describe the relationship between the physical intensity of a stimulus and the perceived magnitude of the resulting sensation.
- In the study of psychophysics, Stevens' Law is often contrasted with Weber's Law, which describes a logarithmic relationship between stimulus intensity and perceived magnitude.
- The researchers found that the perceived weight of lifted objects followed Stevens' Law, with the subjective sensation increasing proportional to a power of the physical weight.
- The data collected in the experiment supported Stevens' Law, showing that the louder the noise, the greater the perceived loudness.