Do you find that we will change because of attention?
For example, in school, because teachers in a certain subject like us to pay attention to us or encourage us, we will fall in love with this subject and study hard.
There is also a concept related to being observed and being concerned in psychology. The phenomenon of changing behavior tendency because of realizing that you have become the observed object is called Hawthorne effect in psychology.
The Hawthorne effect originated in the 1920s and 1930s, and the American Western Electric Company conducted a series of field experiments in the Hawthorne factory in the suburbs of Chicago. At the beginning of the experiment, the researchers just wanted to understand a question, that is, whether the work efficiency of workers is related to lighting conditions. They speculate that the stronger the light, the higher the work efficiency.
They selected a group of workers and divided them into control group and experimental group. In the experimental group, workers work under different light intensities, while in the control group, workers work under constant light conditions.
Unexpectedly, no matter how the lighting conditions changed, the output of the experimental group increased, and even the output of the control group increased, which aroused the curiosity of researchers. They want to know what conditions will affect workers' work efficiency besides light. So they conducted another experiment, the relay assembly test experiment.
During the five years from 1927 to 1932, six workers worked together in the testing room, and a supervisor was responsible for recording and observing their work. In the past five years, researchers have investigated how the incentive system, rest time, working hours and other working conditions will affect the output of employees.
The results show that the productivity of these six employees has been improved by introducing new salary incentive system, increasing rest time or reducing working hours.
The researchers are curious. If these optimized conditions are cancelled and returned to the original conditions, will the productivity of these employees be reduced?
So they canceled these benefits. Surprisingly, the productivity of these six employees has not decreased, but has further improved.
Then this caused a lot of thinking. Finally, the researchers come to the conclusion that it is not the working conditions that improve the efficiency of employees, but the observation from supervisors and researchers. I worked harder because I knew I was being watched alone.
Nowadays, we find that Hawthorne effect is not limited to work scenes, but can be found in many fields. For example, a survey on teenagers' smoking in Britain found that the smoking rate of teenagers who received continuous follow-up survey was lower than that of their peers who were not followed.
Researchers believe that for teenagers, the behaviors investigated and concerned may have influenced them.
Another study of 293 students with excessive drinking problems also found that only 10 minutes of online evaluation test on drinking was done. After 12 months, the total amount of self-reported drinking and the frequency of drinking decreased.
Although the preliminary research on Hawthorne effect is exaggerated in the later research index, a comprehensive and systematic study of 20 14 systematically analyzes the related research of 19, and points out that Hawthorne effect does exist, but how strong its effect is, under what conditions and how its mechanism is, all need further investigation and study.
So for everyone in our daily life, one of the most important revelations of Hawthorne effect is the power to remind us of attention. Being noticed and seen is a kind of strength in itself, which nourishes our growth. I hope we can pay more attention to others in our feelings and life, and I hope you can be seen more.