Competency-Based Performance Reviews

Appendix GCommon Appraisal Errors¹

Contrast Effect	Tendency to evaluate people in comparison with other people, rather than against the standards for the job.
First Impression Error	Tendency to make an initial positive or negative judgment and allow that first impression to distort later information.
Halo/Horns Effect	Generalizations from one aspect of an individual’s performance to all areas of the person’s performance.
Similar-to-Me Effect	Tendency to rate people more similar to them more highly than others.
Central Tendency	Tendency to rate people in the middle of the scale even when their performance justifies a higher or lower rating.
Negative and Positive Skew	Tendency to rate people higher or lower than their actual performance. ...