what is the hawthorne effect

The Hawthorne effect is a type of human behavior reactivity in which individuals modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed. It was first identified during the Hawthorne studies conducted between 1924 and 1932 at the Hawthorne Works, a Western Electric factory in Cicero, outside Chicago. The effect was discovered when researchers observed that workers productivity seemed to improve when changes were made, and slumped when the study ended. The term "Hawthorne effect" was coined in 1958 by Henry A. Landsberger when he was analyzing the Hawthorne studies. The phenomenon implies that when people become aware that they are subjects in an experiment, the attention they receive from the experimenters may cause them to change their conduct. The Hawthorne effect is thought to be unavoidable in studies and experiments that use humans as subjects, and it continues to be evaluated and taken into account when designing studies and their conclusions.