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Topic: Expectation bias (Read 16047 times) previous topic - next topic
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Expectation bias

Reply #50 –
Quote from: Yahzi on
Perhaps the other senses are required in order for hearing to work as efficiently.


That must be why some people like to close their eyes when enjoying music, NOT.

Also, the senses are not shut down in a blind test. Almost everything can stay the same in a blind test. If you test cables which are hidden anyway you do not need to change anything at all.
If you test some visible boxes then you can use a switching box that is hidden.
If you do not like to use a switching box then you simply need to hide which cable you're connecting to which box - that usually happens in the rear where you don't look anyway.

I mean seriously, how hard can it be?
The reason why heavily financially invested audiophiles and audio reviewers find excuses not to do blind tests is because they fear their reputation, their bubble bursting, losing their advertisers ...
"I hear it when I see it."

Expectation bias

Reply #52 –
Quote from: Yahzi on
So you are saying that no person can isolate their hearing from the rest of their senses in an audio evaluation, no matter how acute their hearing or their experience? Perhaps the other senses are required in order for hearing to work as efficiently.


candles on the table can be a romantic diner prepared by your loving girl smiling at you, or maybe the entire town is without electricity because of a sharknado and she just got eaten by a flying f***** shark in front of you 10minutes ago, and you've been starving for 5days. now tell me that in both situations you can objectively judge the taste of the nicely cooked meat on the table.
listening to 2 amps isn't as demanding, but maybe the guy making the demo will make one louder, maybe he likes one and will have an happier face when demonstrating the one on the left. maybe his mustache reminds you of your nice grandpa so you will trust his opinion. maybe you like the color of one better, maybe the other is super expensive and somehow the look doesn't match the price, and subconsciously you're thinking it's a scam. maybe listening to the first one you were curious and enjoyed the experience, but it's been 10minutes now and you're bored or wish to go take a piss so you don't really care about the second amp. there are endless possible reasons why some bias might get to you, and it would be foolish to let your ego blind you into thinking you're better than your average human (spoiler: our hobby is full of those ego-boosted people who can hear 30khz, 0.0001db, and know better than the engineer who made the gear).

at every levels what makes us unique beings(our past experiences, our interactions with others, our way of thinking, our tastes...) will be a part of how we judge a product, you can't let who you are at the door. so hiding most information that aren't audio from you is the only way to make sure you will not make your decision based on something that isn't audio. 

anyway you don't need no expert, all this is very basic. you can find an endless supply of examples and experiments on the web or talking to anybody who took psychology at school. or to anybody with a good knowledge of marketing. attracting people with stuff unrelated to the product is a huge part of modern marketing.

Expectation bias

Reply #53 –
Regarding expecting not to hear a difference: the problem is that there usually is no physical reason for the allegedly heard differences.

For example, people claim that some piece of equipment is bright or has rolled-off highs, but measurements show a completely flat frequency response. Conflicting reviews don't help such claims either.
Add to that many honest (blind) but failed tests.


It's a bit like concluding that when something feels heavier to you on one day, that gravity has changed.

"I hear it when I see it."

Expectation bias

Reply #54 –
Quote from: xnor on
It's a bit like concluding that when something feels heavier to you on one day, that gravity has changed.


Well, it does change. I trust my arms.

Expectation bias

Reply #55 –
Quote from: skamp on
Quote from: xnor on
It's a bit like concluding that when something feels heavier to you on one day, that gravity has changed.


Well, it does change. I trust my arms.

That's not too far from being a completely non-hyperbolic analogy, actually. Imagine people attributing the perceived change in weight to them having been close to or far from the equator. Or they're up on a flight and perceived that time went by slower, and then proceed to explain to you how according to general relativity time actually goes slower when you move fast. A lot of audiophool products have this little kernel of truth or half-truth (or barely-there truth) that is completely irrelevant to the application at hand but they market it that way.

And as it happens, many people have actually done a more ridiculous version of the weight one. Put this plastic/rubber bracelet on, and this heavy bag you just lifted will seem to weigh less! (Actual demonstration of either Power Balance or Phiten done by salespeople at malls. Aunt fell for it.)

Expectation bias

Reply #56 –
That which is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.


edit: Oh yeah, those products which use distorted science are imho worse than those with just plain old ridiculous claims. "It's magic!"
"I hear it when I see it."
 

Expectation bias

Reply #59 –
Quote from: Yahzi on
...but OMG, surely it can not be THAT difficult to be honest with yourself?

Or have I missed something?

Have you ever witnessed an optical illusion?  Are you "not being honest with yourself" then? Or are you immune to them? Do you believe in the scientific principal called the "placebo effect", but for some reason think you personally are immune to it? Are you also immune to known, established auditory illusions such as the McGurk Effect?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-lN8vWm3m0


Thanks to simple procedures which consumers can now download for themselves, free of charge [e.g. foobar2000 + ABX plug in] we can test many things out for ourselves without having to worry about expectation bias and the other problems that come from casual, sighted comparisons.

The audio magazines and many of the audio companies they pitch continue to lie, as they have for decades,  because it is profitable for them to lie; it brings in advertising dollars to the magazine from the snake oil peddlers.