Rashomon Effect

The Rashomon Effect is the phenomenon by which observers of an event can produce very different but entirely plausible accounts of what happened. This is because every person has a unique set of life experiences that cause him to pay attention to things in his own way. Physical position and personal relationship to the event, as well as psychological makeup, determine how a person will perceive it. This is one reason why eyewitness testimony can be so unreliable.

For example, two fans are at the same baseball game. They are rooting for opposite teams. Once the game is over, the fan of the winning team is likely to have a very different memory than the fan of the losing team, even though they were watching the same game.