What is the Hawthorne Effect?

Why do we increase our performance when we are observed working?

Sometimes, when a group conducts research where participants' performance on a task is evaluated, they perform above what is usual for them. This is not due to a newly discovered innate talent, but to what scientists call the Hawthorne effect..

This effect, discovered almost by accident by Elton Mayo more than 80 years ago, seems to manifest itself especially in research situations. We briefly explain its history and the different interpretations it has received...

Experiments at the Hawthorne Factory

E. Mayo, an Austrian industrial psychologist, carried out between 1924 and 1933 a series of experiments at the Hawthorne factory to investigate the relationship between lighting conditions and employee productivity.

In the initial phase of the study, Mayo divided the workers into two groups: one group worked under the same lighting conditions and the other under a light that the experimenters gradually turned off. Contrary to expectations, both groups gradually increased their performance.

This unexpected fact motivated Mayo to continue evaluating the relationships between performance and other physical variables, such as those that produced fatigue.The results of the study showed that the two groups of workers increased their performance gradually, as did those that produced fatigue and monotony in the workers. Again, it was found that although the changes introduced were a priori detrimental, performance improved.

The most surprising aspect of the study was that, even in the stages when conditions were less favorable, there was no decline in production as expected, which showed the influence of variables other than those initially considered relevant by the researchers, such as social factors, in the explanation of productivity.

The conclusions of the Mayo experiment

Mayo's group concluded that this was due to the research situation itself and to the presence of experimenters, a phenomenon that in 1953 received the name "Hawthorne effect" in honor of the facilities where the research was carried out.

The workers, however, took a different view.. For them, the most important factor in the continuous increase in performance was the improvement in personal relations between employees and management. Apparently, in an attempt to promote collaboration, the experimenters created a warm atmosphere where special attention was paid to the demands of the workers and they felt that they were listened to.

This suggestion became a conclusion and served as the basis, years later, for a new trend in business administration and management that would emphasize human relations, and would soon replace the trend that emphasized efficiency and productivity through scientific study.

What we know about the Hawthorne effect

In general, the most widely accepted modern definition describes the Hawthorne effect as follows: the Hawthorne effect is the improvement in results simply by being part of an investigation or the increase in performance due to the introduction of a certain change in a study.

Social psychologists propose that subjects, realizing that they are being observed, generate beliefs about what the experimenters expect of them. Motivated by conformity and social desirability, individuals change their behavior to align with these beliefs. behavior to align it with these beliefs.

It is impossible to give a precise answer about its mechanisms, as each discipline has taken the name "Hawthorne effect" to describe different phenomena, and therefore propose different explanations. Because of this, its meaning has been mutating and investigating the effect has been confusing and not very rigorous.

From the multiple definitions proposed by social psychologists, six characteristics are extracted that are characteristic of the situations in which the Hawthorne effect occurs:

• Novelty of the situation.
• Artificiality of the situation.
• Changes introduced in the experiment.
• The worker's belief that the situation is beneficial to him/her.
• Awareness of being studied or observed by an evaluator.
• Reduction of the worker's boredom.

Frequently, researchers establish a good relationship with the subjects in order to get them to collaborate with them. In this way, the experimenter may be introducing changes in behavior through the creation of a warm climate and an environment where complaints and suggestions are and an environment where workers' complaints and suggestions are listened to.

Criticism of the concept

In a research context, any alteration in behavior as a consequence of observation or study is called the Hawthorne effect. For this reason, some authors point out that it is an a posteriori interpretation of unexpected results, especially when these are contrary to the initial hypothesis.

Even Mayo's original research has been challenged and criticized numerous times.. Alternative interpretations of performance enhancement have been offered that shake the foundations of the research.

For example, the cessation of strict supervision by employers, receiving positive attention, the introduction of rest breaks or the perceived possibility of job loss are alternative explanations to those originally proposed by Mayo and his collaborators.

The experiments also received other negative criticisms of their design; the experts involved had no research training and the results were not sufficiently tested.

Today most of the research devoted to the validation of the Hawthorne effect concludes that there is insufficient evidence to support its existence.

Thus, a concept that for years has served as a scapegoat in the scientific literature is likely to be nothing more than a reflection of a bias in the interpretation of results decades ago.