Cognitive errors: Weber-Fechner LawWeber-Fechner Law is one of the fundamental concepts in the field of psychophysics and cognitive psychology. This law describes how a person perceives changes in stimulation and warns us against various cognitive errors when we evaluate changes in external influences. In this article, we will take a closer look at the essence of the Weber-Fechner law and give several specific examples of its manifestation in everyday life. Weber-Fechner Law: The Basics The Weber-Fechner law was developed by the German scientist Gustav Theodor Fechner in the mid-19th century based on the research of his predecessor Weber. This law states that a change in physical stimulation is not perceived by a person as the same change in perception. Instead, the change in perception becomes proportional to the initial level of stimulation. In other words, the higher the initial stimulation, the greater the change needed to be felt. Mathematically, the Weber-Fechner law can be represented as follows:[ frac{Delta I}{I} = k ]Where: (Delta I) is the change in stimulation, (I) - initial stimulation, (k) - constant, depending on the specific perception and sensitivity of the senses. Example 1: Sound volume Let's look at an example with sound volume. Let's say you have an audio system and you increase the volume from 50 decibels to 60 decibels. According to the Weber-Fechner law, this 10-dB increase will be felt less significant than an increase from 70 dB to 80 dB. Why? Because a 10 dB change at a higher sound level will be perceived as less significant than at a lower level. This explains why, when music is already playing loudly, a small increase in volume may seem less noticeable to you than the same increase at a lower volume level. Example 2: Illuminance A similar principle applies to the brightness of light. If you are in a dark room and increase the brightness of the light, this change will be felt more strongly than if you are already in a fairly bright room and make the same percentage increase in brightness. This can also be explained by the Weber-Fechner Law: with a higher initial level of stimulation (in this case, light), the changes must be larger to be perceptible. Weber-Fechner Law in the work of a psychologist Weber-Fechner Law is one of the fundamental concepts in psychology. which belongs to the field of cognitive errors. This law describes the relationship between the force of influence on our senses and the level of this influence we perceive. Understanding this law is important for the work of psychologists because it allows us to explore and explain a number of cognitive biases that arise in the process of perceiving the world. The Weber-Fechner Law is based on two key concepts: the logarithmic function and the discriminability of the threshold. The logarithmic function describes the relationship between a physical stimulus and its perceptual response. In accordance with this function, in order to perceive a doubling of a physical stimulus, we need to increase its intensity not by two, but by a constant value, depending on the characteristics of a particular perceptual system. Discriminability threshold, on the other hand, reflects the minimum change in a stimulus that we are able to perceive. Applied to the work of psychologists, the Weber-Fechner law explains how certain cognitive errors can arise in the process of perceiving and evaluating psychological phenomena. Let's take a closer look at a few examples: Threshold size effect: according to the Weber-Fechner law, the size of the discriminability threshold depends on the intensity of the original stimulus. This means that larger stimuli require greater change in order to be perceived as different from the original state. For example, a psychologist might conduct a study where patients are shown different colored squares and then asked to rate the change in intensity. The Weber-Fechner law predicts that for.