Observer-expectancy effect

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The observer-expectancy effect (also called the experimenter-expectancy effect, expectancy bias, observer effect, or experimenter effect) is a form of reactivity in which a researcher's cognitive bias causes them to unconsciously influence the participants of an experiment. It is a significant threat to a study's internal validity, and is therefore typically controlled using a double-blind experimental design.

An example of the observer-expectancy effect is demonstrated in music backmasking, in which hidden verbal messages are said to be audible when a recording is played backwards. Some people expect to hear hidden messages when reversing songs, and therefore hear the messages, but to others it sounds like nothing more than random sounds^{[citation needed]}. Often when a song is played backwards, a listener will fail to notice the "hidden" lyrics until they are explicitly pointed out, after which they are obvious. Other prominent examples include facilitated communication and dowsing.

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v t e Fallacies of relevance

A dicto simpliciter ad dictum secundum quid (Accident) Ad nauseam (Argument from repetition) Argumentum ad ignorantiam (Argument from ignorance) Argumentum e silentio (Argument from silence) Argumentum ad temperantiam (Argument to moderation) Argumentum ad populum (Appeal to the people) Base rate Compound question Evidence of absence Ignoratio elenchi (Irrelevant conclusion) Invincible ignorance Loaded question Moralistic Naturalistic Non sequitur Proof by assertion Special pleading Straw man Two wrongs make a right

Appeals to emotion	Fear Flattery Novelty Pity Ridicule Children's interests Invented here Island mentality Not invented here Repugnance Spite

Genetic fallacies	Ad hominem Ad hominem tu quoque Appeal to accomplishment Appeal to authority Appeal to etymology Appeal to motive Appeal to nature Appeal to novelty Appeal to poverty Appeals to psychology Argumentum ad lapidem (Appeal to the stone) Appeal to tradition Appeal to wealth Association Bulverism Chronological snobbery Ipse dixit Poisoning the well Pro hominem Reductio ad Hitlerum

Appeals to consequences	Argumentum ad baculum (Appeal to force) Wishful thinking

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v t e Formal fallacies

Masked man fallacy

In propositional logic	Affirming a disjunct Affirming the consequent Denying the antecedent Argument from fallacy False dilemma

In quantificational logic	Existential fallacy Illicit conversion Proof by example Quantifier shift

Syllogistic fallacy	Accident Affirmative conclusion from a negative premise Converse accident A dicto simpliciter Exclusive premises Existential Necessity Four-term fallacy Illicit major Illicit minor Negative conclusion from affirmative premises Undistributed middle

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v t e Informal fallacies

Absence paradox Begging the question Blind men and an elephant Cherry picking Complex question False analogy Fallacy of distribution (Composition Division) Furtive fallacy Hasty generalization I'm entitled to my opinion Loaded question McNamara fallacy Name calling Nirvana fallacy Rationalization (making excuses) Red herring fallacy Special pleading Slothful induction

Correlative-based fallacies	False dilemma Denying the correlative Suppressed correlative

Deductive fallacies	Accident Converse accident

Inductive fallacies	Sampling bias Conjunction fallacy False analogy Hasty generalization Misleading vividness Overwhelming exception

Vagueness and ambiguity	Amphibology Continuum fallacy False precision Slippery slope

Equivocation	Equivocation False attribution Fallacy of quoting out of context Loki's Wager No true Scotsman Reification

Questionable cause	Animistic Appeal to consequences Argumentum ad baculum Correlation proves causation (Cum hoc ergo propter hoc) Gambler's fallacy and its inverse Post hoc Prescience Regression Single cause Slippery slope Texas sharpshooter Wrong direction

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v t e Biases

Biases in judgment and decision-making	Acquiescence bias Anchoring bias Attentional bias Attribution bias Belief bias Choice-supportive bias Cognitive bias Confirmation bias Congruence bias Correspondence bias Halo effect Hindsight bias Memory bias Outcome bias Response bias Self-serving bias Status quo bias Survivorship bias

Statistical biases	Ascertainment bias Bias of an estimator Information bias Lead time bias Omitted-variable bias Sampling bias Selection bias Self-selection bias Social desirability bias Spectrum bias Systematic error Systemic bias

Other	FUTON bias Media bias No abstract available bias Publication bias Reporting bias

v t e Hidden messages

Main	Hidden messages Subliminal message

Audio	Backmasking Reverse speech

Numeric	Numerology Theomatics Bible code Cryptology

Visual	Fnord Paranoiac-critical method Pareidolia Sacred geometry Steganography Visual cryptography

Other	Anagram Apophenia Asemic writing Easter egg Clustering illusion Observer-expectancy effect Pattern recognition Paradox Palindrome Unconscious mind

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