Editing Observation (section)

==Biases==
The human senses do not function like a video [[camcorder]], impartially recording all observations.<ref name="Shaw">{{cite web
  | last = Shaw
  | first = Julia
  | title = Not all memories happened: What experts wish you knew about false memories
  | work = Scientific American
  | publisher = Nature America, Inc.
  | date =  Aug 12, 2016
  | url = http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/what-experts-wish-you-knew-about-false-memories/
  | access-date = August 13, 2016}}</ref>  Human perception occurs by a complex, unconscious process of [[abstraction]], in which certain details of the incoming sense data are noticed and remembered, and the rest is forgotten.    What is kept and what is thrown away depends on an internal model or representation of the world, called by psychologists a ''[[schema (psychology)|schema]]'', that is built up over our entire lives.  The data is fitted into this schema.  Later when events are remembered, memory gaps may even be filled by "plausible" data the mind makes up to fit the model; this is called ''[[reconstructive memory]]''. How much attention the various perceived data are given depends on an internal value system, which judges how important it is to the individual. Thus two people can view the same event and come away with very different perceptions of it, even disagreeing about simple facts.  This is why [[eyewitness testimony]] is notoriously unreliable.<ref>{{Cite book |last=National Research Council |url=https://doi.org/10.17226/18891 |title=Identifying the Culprit: Assessing Eyewitness Identification |publisher=[[The National Academies Press]] |year=2014 |location=Washington, DC|doi=10.17226/18891 |isbn=978-0-309-31059-8 }}</ref> Correct scientific technique emphasizes careful recording of observations, separating experimental observations from the conclusions drawn from them, and techniques such as [[blind experiment|blind]] or [[double blind experiment]]s, to minimize observational bias.

Several of the more important ways observations can be affected by human psychology are given below.

===Streetlight effect===
* {{main|Streetlight effect}}

===Confirmation bias===
{{main|confirmation bias}}
Human observations are biased toward confirming the observer's conscious and unconscious expectations and view of the world; we "''see what we expect to see''".<ref name="Shermer">{{cite book
  | last = Shermer
  | first = Michael
  | title = Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time
  | publisher = MacMillan
  | year = 2002
  | pages = 299–302
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LYIkAkBE7tsC&pg=PA299
  | isbn = 1429996765}}</ref> In psychology, this is called [[confirmation bias]].<ref name="Shermer" />  Since the object of scientific research is the [[Discovery (observation)|discovery]] of new phenomena, this bias can and has caused new discoveries to be overlooked; one example is the discovery of [[x-ray]]s. It can also result in erroneous scientific support for widely held cultural myths, on the other hand, as in the [[scientific racism]] that supported ideas of racial superiority in the early 20th century.<ref name="Gardner">{{cite book
 | last1  = Gardner
 | first1 = Martin
 | title  = Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science
 | publisher = Dover Publications, Inc.
 | date   = 1957
 | pages  = 152–163
 | url    = https://books.google.com/books?id=X0HCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA152
 | isbn   = 9780486131627
 }}</ref>

===Processing bias===
Modern scientific instruments can extensively process "observations" before they are presented to the human senses, and particularly with computerized instruments, there is sometimes a question as to where in the data processing chain "observing" ends and "drawing conclusions" begins. This has recently become an issue with [[digital image processing|digitally enhanced]] images published as experimental data in [[scientific paper|papers]] in [[scientific journal]]s. The images are enhanced to bring out features that the researcher wants to emphasize, but this also has the effect of supporting the researcher's conclusions. This is a form of bias that is difficult to quantify. Some [[scientific journal]]s have begun to set detailed standards for what types of [[image processing]] are allowed in research results. Computerized instruments often keep a copy of the "raw data" from sensors before processing, which is the ultimate defense against processing bias, and similarly, scientific standards require preservation of the original unenhanced "raw" versions of images used as research data.{{cn|date=January 2023}}