Observer bias occurs when we alter what we see, either by only noticing what we expect or by behaving in ways that have influence on what occurs. There’s a reason, after all, why double-blinding (ensuring both tester and subject does not receive any information that may influence their behavior) is the gold-standard in research involving living things. The effects of observation get more complex when we consider how each of us filters what we see through our own biases, assumptions, preconceptions, and other distortions. “How much does one imagine, how much observe? One can no more separate those functions than divide light from air, or wetness from water.” - Elspeth Huxley Observer bias Observing changes what occurs, but observing also changes our perceptions of what occurs. The observer effect, however, is twofold. We never know when we’re being watched, so we act as if it’s all the time. It never caught on as an actual design for prisons, but the modern prevalence of CCTV is often compared to the Panopticon. Bentham expected this would lead to better behavior, without the need for many staff. The prison was constructed so that its cells circled a central watchtower so inmates could never tell if they were being watched or not. Philosopher Jeremy Bentham knew this when he designed the panopticon prison in the eighteenth century, building upon an idea by his brother Samuel. In general, we change our behavior when we expect to be seen. And other studies have shown that zoo animals only exhibit certain behaviors in the presence of visitors, such as being hypervigilant of their presence and repeatedly looking at them. Doctors and nurses wash their hands more when they know their hygiene is being tracked. Cristian Damsa and his colleagues concluded in their paper “Heisenberg in the ER” that being observed makes psychiatric patients a third less likely to require sedation. Otherwise, the behavior they see is unlikely to be natural, because most animals (including humans) change their behavior when they are being observed. In biology, when researchers want to observe animals in their natural habitat, it is paramount that they find a way to do so without disturbing those animals. (Although Schrodinger meant this as a counter-argument to Einstein’s proposition of superposition of quantum states – he wanted to demonstrate the absurdity of the proposition – it has caught on in popular culture as a thought experiment of the observer effect.) The observation removes the cat from a state of superposition and commits it to just one. Only by observing it does the cat shift permanently to one of the two states. Until the box opens, the cat exists in a state of superposition (when half of two states each occur at the same time)-that is, the cat is both alive and dead. In his best-known thought experiment, Schrödinger asked us to imagine a cat placed in a box with a radioactive atom that might or might not kill it in an hour. In physics, Erwin Schrödinger’s famous cat highlights the power of observation. The observer effect pops up in many scientific fields. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers.” - Isaac Asimov The observer effect in science People are invariably affected by observation. So, before you judge someone’s behavior, it’s worth asking if they are changing because you are looking at them, or if their behavior is natural. But both things and people can change under observation. The moon continues to orbit whether we have a telescope pointed at it or not. Are you ever on your best behavior when you’re alone in your house? To get better at understanding other people, we need to consider the observer effect: observing things changes them, and some phenomena only exist when observed. But the truth is, we all change how we act when we expect to be seen. We see what they are doing as representative of their whole life. We often forget to factor in the distortion of observation when we evaluate someone’s behavior. Here’s how the observer effect distorts our world and how we can get a more accurate picture. The act of looking at something changes it – an effect that holds true for people, animals, even atoms.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |