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behavior
Your performance improves solely because you are watched.
The Hawthorne effect describes how being observed alters your behavior.
When people realize they are part of a study or under observation, they temporarily improve their performance regardless of the changes to their environment. The act of being the center of attention is a powerful motivator for human activity. It is not the variables that matter, but the scrutiny.
You perform differently just because you are seen.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Landsberger, 1958
- What the check found
- Landsberger coined the term in his 1958 analysis. While the definition is widely accepted, the validity of the effect itself is frequently questioned by researchers as a statistical artifact or poor interpretation.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.