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Home
UX Glossary
Hawthorne Effect

📸

Hawthorne Effect

People modify their behaviour under observation.

Similar psychology:

Hyperbolic Discounting
Fresh Start Effect
Confirmation Bias

Likely impacts:

Feature Usage
Input Quality
Last updated: 03/11/2026

How to utilise this in your designs

When someone is about to break a limit they set themselves, you could show them their own front camera view, so the sense of being watched may make them more likely to stop.

Settings screen. On the "Intervention" options, tapping "Mirror" opens a detail card tagged "one sec pro", explaining "Look in your own eyes and tell yourself that you really want to open that app right now", with a "Try" button.
Example from
One Sec logo
One Sec

Try showing how many of their contacts are online right before someone goes live, as knowing an audience is watching could prompt them to start.

Livestream recording screen. Before going live, a prompt under "Share with Everyone" shows follower avatars and "18 followers active now", indicating how many people could watch right now to encourage starting the broadcast.
Example from
Instagram logo
Instagram

Possible impacts

Feeling watched can lead people to do what they think they ought to, which could increase use of 'good' features and reduce use of ones they're cutting back on.

As seen in:
Instagram logo
InstagramIncentivising action

Because of the Hawthorne Effect, survey and interview answers could become less reliable, as observed people often say what they think they ought to, not what they do.

As seen in:
Posthog logo
PosthogGathering feedback within the product
AliExpress logo
AliExpressQuick-select email domains
Profile photo. A circular headshot of a smiling young man with short tousled hair and round glasses, suitable as an author avatar or user profile picture. No interface elements are shown.

Written by Peter Ramsey

Consultant to 100+ companies

Published: 06/09/2023