Studies and Experiments
Hawthorne Studies
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A series of workplace experiments conducted at Western Electric's Hawthorne Works plant in Cicero, Illinois, between 1924 and 1932, in which researcher Elton Mayo and colleagues found that worker productivity rose when workers were observed and attended to, regardless of whether physical conditions such as lighting were improved or worsened, a pattern that became known as the Hawthorne effect.
Facts
Disputed
Key FindingHow strong the observation-changes-behavior effect actually was in the original data is itself contested. 1 The term 'Hawthorne effect' was not coined until 1953, by John R. P. French, two decades after the original studies. A 2011 re-analysis of the original illumination-experiment data by economists Steven Levitt and John List found only slight evidence for the effect over the long run, far weaker than the effect is classically portrayed as being, and the psychologist Richard Nisbett has called the whole phenomenon 'a glorified anecdote.' Key FindingWorkers' productivity increased when they were observed by researchers and attended to, and returned to prior levels once the study ended, suggesting that attention itself, rather than the specific working conditions changed, drove the performance gains. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
The Hawthorne studies are the founding case study of the branch.
Conducted By
In Branch
Repointed from Social Psychology (branch 1389): the Hawthorne studies are the founding case of I-O psychology, not social psychology.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Hawthorne Effect
Wikimedia FoundationHistory sectionQuote, History section
Workers' productivity seemed to improve when changes were made but returned to their original level when the study ended.
1. Wikipedia: Hawthorne Effect
Wikimedia FoundationLevitt and List Reanalysis (2011)Quote, Levitt and List Reanalysis (2011)
slight evidence for the Hawthorne effect over the long-run, but in no way as drastic as suggested initially
1. Wikipedia: Hawthorne Effect
Wikimedia FoundationConducted By: Elton Mayo, Illumination experiment sectionQuote, Conducted By: Elton Mayo, Illumination experiment section
When the intensity of light was increased in the experiment room, researchers found that productivity had improved in both rooms.
1. Wikipedia: Hawthorne Effect
Wikimedia FoundationOpen Questions: How strong was the original Hawthorne effect, really?View the Source Open Questions (1 open question)
How strong was the original Hawthorne effect, really?
The term was coined in 1953, two decades after the original studies, from a methodologically loose, largely uncontrolled dataset. A 2011 re-analysis of the original illumination-experiment data by economists Steven Levitt and John List found only slight long-run evidence for the effect, far weaker than its popular retelling, and the psychologist Richard Nisbett has dismissed the whole phenomenon as a glorified anecdote, so how much of the classic story survives contact with the original data is unsettled.
What would resolve this A full re-analysis of the surviving relay-assembly and bank-wiring datasets, not just the illumination-experiment data Levitt and List examined, using modern statistical controls for the original experiments' many confounds (rest breaks, pay changes, seasonal effects).
Industrial-organizational psychology and applied econometricsWikipedia: Hawthorne Effect
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Key Finding
The traditional account, following Mayo, holds that Hawthorne workers' productivity rose specifically because they knew they were being observed. Economists Steven Levitt and John List re-examined the original Hawthorne Works data directly in 2011 and found only modest, inconsistent evidence for an observation effect of the size and reliability the traditional account describes, once other changes to the work (lighting schedules, pay incentives, the day of the week) were accounted for. Their reading does not deny that something changed at Hawthorne; it denies that the clean 'being watched changes behavior' story the studies are famous for is what the original data actually show.
A dissenting reading, from Steven Levitt and John ListWikipedia: Hawthorne Effect, Wikimedia Foundation
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