Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hawthorne effect

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.24 in modern English

Syllables: hawthorne -ef-fect
IPA

32

Scrabble Score

15

Letters

3

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

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.

Example Sentences

"In modern organizations, a Hawthorne effect might occur when a relatively trivial change is made in a person's job, and that person initially responds to this change very positively but the effect does not last long."
"Even if methodological shortcomings were waived, there is no proof of a Hawthorne effect in the original data."

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).

Inflected Forms

Hawthorne effects (plural)

Synonyms

observer bias

Questions

What does hawthorne effect mean?: 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.
Where does hawthorne effect come from?: 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).

How to pronounce hawthorne effect

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