Hawthorne effect

Coined by American social psychologist John R. P. French in 1953[1] after a 1924–1932 study conducted by Elton Mayo at the Hawthorne Works, a large factory complex in Cicero, Illinois (formerly Hawthorne).

Hawthorne effect (plural Hawthorne effects)

1. A phenomenon whereby a change in the behavior of a subject being studied is an effect of the change itself or the fact of being observed rather than the nature of the change in question.

   Near-synonym: observer bias

   • 2002, Steve M. Jex, Organizational Psychology: A Scientist-Practitioner Approach, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 13:

     In modern organizations, a Hawthorne effect might occur when a relatively trivial change is made in a person's job, and that person initially responds to this change very positively but the effect does not last long.

   • 2006 October, Michiel AJ Kompier, “The “Hawthorne effect” is a myth, but what keeps the story going?”, in Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, volume 32, number 5, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 402–412:

     Even if methodological shortcomings were waived, there is no proof of a Hawthorne effect in the original data.