Assimilation effect

The assimilation effect is a frequently observed bias in evaluative judgments towards the position of a context stimulus. When an assimilation effect occurs, judgments and contextual information are correlated positively, i.e. a positive context stimulus results in a positive judgment, whereas a negative context stimulus results in a negative judgment. Assimilation effects are different from contrast effects, where a negative correlation between judgments and contextual information is observed.