Hawthorne Effect: We Change When We Are Observed

The Hawthorne effect is what we call the change in humans when they know someone is watching them. People started talking about the Hawthorne effect after a study done in 1955 by researcher Henry A. Landsberger. Landsberger analyzed experiments performed by Elton Mayo in 1924 and 1932 in a factory called Hawthorne Works .

In his experiments, Mayo wanted to find out if there were any changes in workers’ productivity due to lighting. Finally, he realized that lighting had no effect on workers’ efficiency, as long as it was above a certain level.

Still, he noticed an increase in productivity among some workers. But it had nothing to do with the light. It was simply because the people who thought they were being observed began to become more productive. Efficiency increased automatically when employees noticed that they were constantly being observed.

Mayo’s first conclusion was that the workers felt special about being selected for the study. He thought that was what made them more efficient. The other factors such as light, ventilation and infrastructure did not have the slightest effect on them. This is what he called the Hawthorne effect.

To verify the existence of the Hawthorne effect, the researchers interviewed the workers. They wanted to investigate what factors the workers thought had caused their increased productivity. What the workers answered came as a big surprise to the research leaders.

According to the workers, the decisive factor that made them more productive was a noticeable improvement in the relations between them. Without realizing it, it seemed that the researchers were improving the work environment to get employees to participate in the experiment.

A new branch of psychology was formed because of these results: organizational psychology. They assumed that human relations were an element that played a crucial role in productivity. But the question of what changed due to mere observation remained unanswered.

People have done other studies on this subject since the first attempt. The existence of the Hawthorne effect is still accepted as a positive psychological reaction to being observed during an experiment.

The effect is particularly positive when the task we handle is not very complex. Otherwise, the “observation effect” can be very counterproductive to worker efficiency.

It seems that people imagine what researchers expect of them. They do not see the point in acting normally as they would in their normal routine. They think they should improve their behavior to the level that researchers might want to see. In other words, they adapt their behavior to how they think it should be.

Of course, this does not only apply to experiments performed in work environments. We can also extend it to all kinds of experiments with humans. The Hawthorne effect thus introduces a research perspective that all researchers must keep in mind. 

The Hawthorne effect is considered to be a particularly problematic factor in medical research. Some patients say they have experienced improvements even though the test shows otherwise – but only when they have been monitored. Objective clinical results prove this. The patient says that they feel better, but the medical tests show that no changes have taken place.

The Hawthorne effect or behavioral improvements do not only occur when a person knows that they are being monitored. It also appears in other circumstances, such as when:

• There is a new situation that changes a person’s routine.
• People feel part of an artificial situation. For example, when they are in a lab.
• The experiment lasts for a while and then for the researcher a change.
• The person thinks that they are in a situation that they can get something out of if it is done better.
• New factors emerge that affect their sense of boredom.

Many have doubted how accurate our information about the Hawthorne effect really is. It is a concept that people are still studying. Many questions remain.

But it is a rather interesting psychological phenomenon that we can use to improve people’s performance in different situations. And as we mention, this is especially true when people do simple, repetitive tasks.