Glossary / Lexicon

Hawthorne effect is defined as a change in behavior due simply to the experimenter's paying attention to the participants rather than to the effects of the independent variable. It is the the condition in which performance in an experiment is affected by the knowledge of participants that they are in an experiment. Hawthorne effect, moreover, is a a change in behavior that occurs when individuals know they are being studied by researchers. When employees change their behavior due solely to the fact that they are receiving attention or are being observed, it is called Hawthorne effect. Please see Demand characteristics