Steve Townsend wrote:
>Aphasia has set in. It is well known that a study intervention can
>appear to improve a subject's performance, whereas in fact the
>improvment has been caused by the subject responding to the attention
>received from the researchers. This was observed in a classical study in
>an American (possibly General Electric)factory, and the eponymous name
>for the effect is the name of that factory. I would be grateful to
>anyone who can help, as I cannot remember that name.
It is called the "Hawthorne Effect" - I am not sure, but I think it was the
Hawthorne Electrical plant in Chicago (can anyone confirm or correct?). The
researchers first increased the lighting of the plant to see if production
increased, and it did. Next they _reduced_ the lighting and guess what?
Production _increased_ again... Conclusion: the increase of production had
nothing to do with the change in the illumination, but with the fact the
workers knew they were under observation.
Armando
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Armando Brito de Sa'
Lisboa, Portugal
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