What is noise in human judgment?

• A. Noise is random variability in judgment
• B. Noise is systematic directional error
• C. Noise is caused by data collection errors
• D. Noise is the same across judgments

Answer: (A)

Noise in human judgment is random variability in judgments across similar cases. It means that even when the input is essentially the same, different judgments can vary in unpredictable ways due to moment-to-moment factors like attention, interpretation, or how evidence is weighed at that moment. This randomness reduces reliability and explains why two experts might rate the same situation differently.

This is different from bias, which would push judgments in a systematic direction for many cases. Data collection errors can introduce problems in measurement, but the defining idea of noise is the inherent, unpredictable variation in the judgments themselves. If judgments were the same every time, there would be no noise. That’s why this description—random variability in judgment—best captures the concept.