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What Happened at Hawthorne?: New evidence suggests the Hawthorne effect resulted from operant reinforcement contingencies.

Parsons, H. M.·1974·Science

DOI 10.1126/science.183.4128.922

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Abstract

The Hawthorne effect in experimental research is the unwanted effect of the experimental operations themselves. Following the Hawthorne studies, various explanations have been proposed to account for rising rates of production. Although in the Relay Assembly Test Room experiment the experimental operations may have produced other extraneous variables, a reexamination based on new and neglected evidence has yielded a new interpretation. The new variable, made more plausible because research in other contexts has shown it to have similar effects, is a combination of information feedback and financial reward. It is an example of the control of behavior by its consequences. Although several approaches may be taken to explain the effects of response-consequence contingencies, I have favored operant conditioning because it seems to account for progressive increases in response rate—the Hawthorne phenomenon. Generalizing from the particular situation at Hawthorne, I would define the Hawthorne effect as the confounding that occurs if experimenters fail to realize how the consequences of subjects' performance affect what subjects do. But the Hawthorne effect need not be viewed solely as a problem in conducting experiments. The phenomenon that created it should be studied in its own right, as Sommer suggested with a different phenomenon in mind. The study of response-consequence contingencies might well be extended to the examination of motivation in industrial workers.

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Valentini, L., Schindler, K., Schlaffer, R., Bucher, H., Mouhieddine, M., Steininger, K., Tripamer, J., Handschuh, M., Schuh, C. J., Volkert, D., et al. (2009) · Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2009.01.021 · Cited by 79
“Months since admission med [range] 2117 29 [1–516]”
BackgroundInfluential
Testing public interventions for flash flood evacuation through environmental and social cues: The merit of virtual reality experiments
Fujimi, T., & Fujimura, K. (2020) · International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction · doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101690 · Cited by 76
Managing Neonatal and Early Childhood Syndromic Sepsis in Sub-District Hospitals in Resource Poor Settings: Improvement in Quality of Care through Introduction of a Package of Interventions in Rural Bangladesh
Rahman, A. E., Iqbal, A., Hoque, D. M. E., Moinuddin, M., Zaman, S. B., Rahman, Q. S.-U., Begum, T., Chowdhury, A. I., Haider, R., Arifeen, S. E., et al. (2017) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170267 · Cited by 72
Detection of Deteriorating Patients on Surgical Wards Outside the ICU by an Automated MEWS-Based Early Warning System With Paging Functionality
Heller, A. R., Mees, S. T., Lauterwald, B., Reeps, C., Koch, T., & Weitz, J. (2018) · Annals of Surgery · doi:10.1097/sla.0000000000002830 · Cited by 73
Qualitative inquiry in medical research
Holman, H. R. (1993) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/0895-4356(93)90006-m · Cited by 72
Neighborhood Disadvantage and Life‐Space Mobility Are Associated with Incident Falls in Community‐Dwelling Older Adults
Lo, A. X., Rundle, A., Buys, D. R., Kennedy, R., Sawyer, P., Allman, R. M., & Brown, C. J. (2016) · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · doi:10.1111/jgs.14353 · Cited by 71
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Kompier, M. A. J. (2006) · Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment & Health · doi:10.5271/sjweh.1036 · Cited by 70
Using feedback to promote learning
Hattie, J., & Yates, G. C. R. (2014) · Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) · Cited by 69
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An experiment measuring the effects of personal software process (PSP) training
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“The research setting might moderate the association between need for cognition and learning performance because students may be inclined to perform differently in laboratory environments if their awareness of being observed is more acute (McCambridge et al., 2014; Parsons, 1974).”
Background
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“Although ours was a retrospective study, we believe this to be a strength because it avoided the Hawthorne effect, the phenomenon in which participants in a study modify their behavior because they are aware that they are being monitored, thereby biasing the results.(14) To attest to the reality of the Hawthorne effec…”
Result
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“That difference might reflect a Hawthorne effect, where just knowing one is being studied changes behavior (Parsons, 1974; Orne, 1962).”
Background
Sexual Scripts of Women: A Longitudinal Analysis of Participants in a Gender-Specific HIV/STD Prevention Intervention
Dworkin, S. L., Jarrett, S. B., & Ehrhardt, A. Α. (2006) · Archives of Sexual Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10508-006-9092-9 · Cited by 64
“These results may be reflective of longstanding debates about placebo effects in control groups within clinical trials (Djulbegovic, 2001, Newman, Browner, Cummings, & Hulley 2001; Parsons, 1974), and shed light on the specifics of how and why control groups change.”
Result
The Anthropology of Organisations
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Serious Games in Breaking Informational Barriers in Solar EnergyPreprint
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Authors: Parsons, H. M.
Affiliations: Riverside Research Institute (US)
Corresponding author: Parsons, H. M.
Venue: Science
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Published: 1974-03-08
Volume: 183
Issue: 4128
Pages: 922-932
ISSN: 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
1095-9203
DOI: 10.1126/science.183.4128.922
OpenAlex: W1987677291
Cited by: 615
References: 24
Citations by year: 2026: 12 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 29
FWCI: 10.19
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Science (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management Theory and Practice
Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
Social Sciences › Psychology › General Psychology › Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology
Keywords: Hawthorne effect, Hawthorne studies, information feedback, monetary rewards, operant conditioning, confounding variables, employee motivation, industrial workers, production rate

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What Happened at Hawthorne?: New evidence suggests the Hawthorne effect resulted from operant reinforcement contingencies.

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