Psychology
What is The Hawthorne effect?
The Hawthorne effect is the tendency for people to change or improve their behavior simply because they know they're being observed. It's named after factory studies where workers became more productive whenever researchers were watching.
See it, don’t just read it.
Watch a 2-minute lesson with voice + animation that explains the hawthorne effect.
Key things to understand
- 1People act differently when they know they're watched.
- 2Observation alone can boost performance.
- 3It's named after 1920s–30s factory studies.
- 4It can distort research results if unaccounted for.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Hawthorne effect?
- The tendency to change behavior, often improving, simply because one knows they are being observed.
- Why does the Hawthorne effect matter?
- It can skew studies, since being watched — not the change being tested — may cause the improvement.
- Where does the name come from?
- From productivity studies at the Hawthorne Works factory in the 1920s and 1930s.