The observer effect may be defined as the disturbance of a system by the act of its observation. This means that measuring in itself alters the value measured, such that the status of the system being assessed is reported falsely. Dipping one’s toe to test the water temperature changes the temperature of the water into which one’s toe is dipped. To elaborate: Imagine a florist who claims that their cut flowers are good for 5 days. Any florist worth their wellies would want to confirm this experimentally before leveraging such longevity for sales. Placing an average bunch of flowers in a vase under representative conditions, its state is assessed after 5 days, choosing as metric the number of petals that have fallen. The florist collects them from the table, but in doing so nudges against bloom or vase, causing more petals to fall. The observer effect is invoked: the act of measuring has altered the outcome. The florist realises that the petals on the table should instead be counted where they lie, without intervention, perhaps photographed. (In reality, the percentage rather than the absolute number fallen would be a much better indicator, but that means laboriously counting all the petals in the bunch at time zero, which is a lot of effort even for a thought experiment.) This is all very illuminating, but what’s it got to do with anything?

For all sorts of reasons, people tend to change their behaviour once aware that they are being observed (aka the Hawthorne effect), from playing to the camera to being on their best behaviour, projecting what others expect to see, demonstrating best posture, manners, grammar, compliance, diligence, effort, and so on. It’s why totalitarian regimes watch everyone (Big Brother), and why a democratic state watching everyone makes the populace very uncomfortable – because they are provoked into not being themselves, which is an afront to personal freedom. Engaging in non-conformist behaviour, such as in protests against oppression, despite being watched – or precisely because of it – is an act of defiance. So, a sense of being observed goes hand-in-hand with a perception of being judged. If we believe God to be omnipresent, then we’re being watched, judged, all the time. But are we being ourselves under this scrutiny? That’s the challenge in a nutshell. Being true to oneself is the metric of salvation. If we can be both truly authentic and entirely at ease under God’s gaze, and not just putting on our Sunday best, then we know we’ve made the grade. The observer effect no longer applies. Let the petals fall as they will.

Colin Davey