Hawthorne effect is a change in a person’s behavior that occurs when the person is aware of being observed. It is an important idea in social and industrial psychology . The Hawthorne effect is also known as the observer effect.
The Hawthorne effect was identified in research conducted from 1927 to 1932 by George Elton Mayo, an Australian-born psychologist at Harvard University . Mayo studied workers at the Hawthorne Works, a manufacturer of telephone equipment in Cicero, Illinois. In a series of experiments, he and other researchers tested various changes in the workplace to see if they would make workers more productive . They systematically varied such conditions as lighting levels, working hours, break times, and financial incentives. The researchers examined the results to see which changes led to increases or decreases in productivity. Surprisingly, they often found that productivity increased no matter what changes were made.
At first, the researchers thought they had failed to identify significant ways to improve productivity. However, an important insight emerged upon further examination. With remarkable consistency, workers had become more productive not because of any specific workplace change, but because they had been singled out for special attention and treatment as research subjects. The term Hawthorne effect was coined by the German-born American sociologist Henry A. Landsberger in 1958 to describe this interpretation.
