[2026] PTE Academic Reading - Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

The Hawthorne Effect refers to a psychological phenomenon in which individuals modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed.The term was coined in the 1950s by Henry A. Landsberger, who was analyzing older experiments conducted at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works in Chicago during the 1920s and 1930s.

The original Hawthorne studies were designed to investigate how various environmental factors, such as factory lighting, affected worker productivity.Researchers were surprised to find that productivity increased almost every time a change was made, regardless of whether the lighting was made brighter or dimmer.The productivity gains slumped back to normal once the study concluded and the researchers left the factory.

Later interpretations of the data suggested that the workers' improved performance was not caused by the physical changes in their environment, but rather by the psychological stimulus of being singled out and observed.This realization significantly altered the field of industrial psychology, highlighting the importance of human relations and employee morale in the workplace over mere physical working conditions.