/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)
