how does the act of observation influence what is observed?

Question

this is a human sciences question.

Answer 1

What the 'Bleep' do We Know?
Has something to do with consciousness and perception. The idea that we create reality with our consciousness.

Answer 2

It always matters, and it always needs to be taken into consideration. Observing a child's behavior in a lab will obviously be very different from observing a child at home. Sometimes I think of it as kind of like the Uncertainty Principle (from Chemistry)--the more you go "overboard" with the observation, the less reliable the data.

Non-interference is the best. But if you have to interfere with the natural situation, you always have to take into account what you are doing.

I agree it is a good question.

Answer 3

I remember reading a study about a factory. They announced a productivity study would be done. They introduced something (I think it was music-- some sort of lifestyle thing like that) to the work area, improved lighting, etc. Productivity went up. They took the variables away. Productivity went up. Every time they changed something, productivity improved.

When asked about this, the workers said that they knew that they were looking for ways to improve productivity, and so every change was perceived as a good one, leading to gains that ultimately would not be sustainable over a long period of time after the attention was gone.

Answer 4

MATTERs what you are looking at. This is an essential issue in the debate concerning the validity of the scientific method as a tool for the aquisition of knowledge.
Good question, a little too broad though.