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What is the Hawthorne effect?

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The Hawthorne effect highlights how awareness of being observed can influence behavior, often leading to improved performance.
Updated On: Apr 18, 2026
  • The tendency to perform better when aware of being observed
  • The bias in memory recall due to emotional states
  • The resistance to change in group dynamics
  • The effect of rewards on intrinsic motivation
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

The Hawthorne effect describes behavioral changes occurring when individuals are aware of being monitored. This phenomenon was observed during studies at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works in the 1920s and 1930s, where worker productivity increased solely due to the awareness of observation.
- Bias in memory recall due to emotional states (B) concerns how emotions impact memory retrieval, a concept distinct from the Hawthorne effect.
- Resistance to change in group dynamics (C) pertains to a group's inclination to resist alterations and is unrelated to the influence of observation.
- The effect of rewards on intrinsic motivation (D) examines how incentives affect motivation but does not account for the impact of observation on performance.
Consequently, the Hawthorne effect is the accurate identification.
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