18/06/09 issue 157 exercise 1st version

GRE AW Archive Index

ISSUE157 - "There is no such thing as purely objective observation. All observation is subjective; it is always guided by the observer's expectations or desires."

1st version

Time used: 22 min for outline + 39 min for writing = total 61 min
Words: 529 with 4 typo

In the world, you can never say something absolutely. When it comes to observations, it is still true. Observations can be purely objective, subjective or something in between.

Observations can be purely objective in some cases. One example is that you want to count how many cars passing the bridge in front of you in one hour simply because you are bored. You don't have any expection on the exact number, nor do you have any desire that there had better be as many as possible. Therefore, under such case, the observation will be quite objective. The reason behind the objectivity is simple: you don't really have an intention not to objective.

However, most observations are objective. Many of us have ecountered such cases in which several friends together discussing a person they all know. It is not surprising that several people have different opinions or even opposite oppions on the same fact. Various views held by different people are the results of different factors. And one of the main factors is people have different expectations on that person. If you expect a typist to be extremely carefully, you will find him rather careless when he gets the words typed 99% correct. On the other hand, if you expect the same typist to be rather careless, you will conclude that the typist is unexpected careful when the words he types is 99% correct. That is how expectations can influence our observations. Based on the same facts, we can draw different conclusions.

Sometimes, people will even opt out some facts when observing. Psychologists tell us the first sight as well as a good looking are very important when interviewing. The interviewers have already decided which one to select at the first five minutes of the interview. If you not impress the interviewer at the beginning, no matter how well you perform later on, you will not be given the chance since interviewers have already had expectations in mind and they will try to find facts to support their expectation rather than go against them. The old saying "love is blind" can show how strong an expection can influence one's observations, too.

However, not all observations with expectations or desires are totally subjective. Most science observations can be viewed as relatively objective. Back to seventeenth or eighteenth century, when most people believed our Earth was the center of the Universe. Many people, scientists or not, observed the sky and tried to find eviendences for that. However, when some of them found actually instead, the sun was the core, most of them were doubt of their observations. The expectation in their mind did affect their observations. Several of them chose to abandon their expectations and insisted on their observations, and they got the truth. It is hard to say such kind of observation was totally subjective though they observed with expectations.

To conclude, in our world, most observations are guided by the observers' expectations or desires though a few observations can be purely objective. However, it does not mean that all observations are subjective since even with expectations and desires, observations can still be relatively objective and guide observers to the truth.

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