English Explanatory Dictionary

Hawthorne effect

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  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.

Word forms

Hawthorne effect Hawthorne effects

Etymology

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

Synonyms

observer bias
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