[1] : Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

eliza effect /-li:'z -fekt'/ n. ai community the tendency of
   humans to attach associations to terms from prior experience. for
   example, there is nothing magic about the symbol `+' that makes it
   well-suited to indicate addition; it's just that people associate it
   with addition. using `+' or `plus' to mean addition in a computer
   language is taking advantage of the eliza effect.

   this term comes from the famous eliza program by joseph weizenbaum,
   which simulated a rogerian psychotherapist by rephrasing many of the
   patient's statements as questions and posing them to the patient. it
   worked by simple pattern recognition and substitution of key words into
   canned phrases. it was so convincing, however, that there are many
   anecdotes about people becoming very emotionally caught up in dealing
   with eliza. all this was due to people's tendency to attach to words
   meanings which the computer never put there. the eliza effect is a good
   thing when writing a programming language, but it can blind you to
   serious shortcomings when analyzing an artificial intelligence system.
   compare ad-hockery; see also ai-complete. sources for a clone of the
   original eliza are available at
   `ftp://ftp.cc.utexas.edu/pub/ai_attic/programs/classic/eliza/eliza.c'.


see also:
good thing ad-hockery ai-complete 

[2] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

eliza effect
     
         /e-li:'z -fekt'/ from eliza the tendency of
        humans to attach associations to terms from prior experience.
        for example, there is nothing magic about the symbol "+" that
        makes it well-suited to indicate addition; it's just that
        people associate it with addition.  using "+" or "plus" to
        mean addition in a computer language is taking advantage of
        the eliza effect.
     
        the eliza effect is a good thing when writing a programming
        language, but it can blind you to serious shortcomings when
        analysing an artificial intelligence system.
     
        compare ad-hockery; see also ai-complete.
     
        jargon file
     
        1997-09-13
     
     
see also:
eliza good thing artificial intelligence ad-hockery ai-complete jargon file 

Eliza Effect >> E Words
Eliza Effect, definition of term: Eliza Effect
eliza+effect_pag1.html

Eliza >> E Words
Eliza, definition of term: Eliza
eliza_pag1.html

Effect >> E Words
Effect, definition of term: Effect
effect_pag1.html

Doppler Effect >> D Words
Doppler Effect, definition of term: Doppler Effect
doppler+effect_pag1.html