The Significance of Human Observation in Measurement in Quantum Mechanics; the Nature of the Traditional Separation between Psychology and Physics

Abstract

The basic reasons why psychology has traditionally been considered to be of little significance to physics are discussed briefly. It is then shown that in quantum mechanics, the course of the physical world can be linked to a person’s observational activities and that these activities are tied to the observer’s knowledge of the physical world. The argument is presented in a discussion, and extension, of Schroedinger’s gedankenexperiment popularly known as “the cat paradox.” The precise and reproducible empirical evidence supporting quantum mechanics is shown to constitute evidence for the influence of human observers on the structure and course of the physical world.