My mother-in-law, Carole, and an amazing women she is, shared this idea... The Hawthorn Effect, at our Women's Conference on Saturday. I had read this book, A Heart Like His, about a year ago and found the authors thought's and ideas simple, genuine, and realistic... not one of those "Church Books" that leave you feeling riddled with guilt and despair. I loved it! In this book, Sis. Pierce shares the concept of the Hawthorn Effect and how it is possible for us in a simple way to change negative behavior in ourselves. After Carole challenged all the women in our stake to give it a try, I thought surely I could do it. So here it goes... I've got my pocket all ready full of pennies, and since it's Noelle's Birthday today, it shouldn't be too hard to offer a lot of "Positive Language" to her and my other children. I'm really excited to do this... I guess it's by small and simple things that great things come to pass! I'm going to try it for the whole week!
Read below:
THE HAWTHORNE EFFECT
The “Hawthorne Effect” is a term used to describe the tendency of subjects in experiments to increase sought-after behavior or decrease negative behavior, simply because they are being studied. It was first observed among the employees at the Hawthorne Plant who were being studied by researchers from Harvard Business School. The researchers were studying worker productivity. But they encountered a problem. When the researchers gave attention to the employees, the workers’ productivity didn’t remain static, it increased. This change in productivity was produced simply by an awareness that they were being studied, and it skewed the study.
Obviously, the Hawthorne Effect drives researchers crazy, but for those who wish to change behavior it is quite encouraging. It means that all I have to do to increase the frequency of a desired behavior, or decrease the frequency of a negative behavior is to notice it! Just my awareness of it will change the results……
For instance, if a mother is concerned about how often she speaks in habitually negative language to her children, she can decide to count all the negative statements she makes. Without any apparent self-discipline, as she becomes aware of how many times a day she responds to a child negatively, she will instinctively improve. Being aware enough to count and report our experiences is a dynamic and positive process.
[One method of doing this is to] fill one pocket with pennies at the beginning of the day. Each time [a mother] responds with positive language to her children rather than negative language, she takes one penny and transfers it to the other pocket. At the end of the day, she writes down the number of pennies in the second pocket. I have done this to self-monitor all sorts of behaviors, and the Hawthorne Effect always holds true. As I continue to count and record, the positive behaviors increase and the negative behaviors decrease.
(Virginia Pearce, A Heart Like His, pg. 88-91)
The “Hawthorne Effect” is a term used to describe the tendency of subjects in experiments to increase sought-after behavior or decrease negative behavior, simply because they are being studied. It was first observed among the employees at the Hawthorne Plant who were being studied by researchers from Harvard Business School. The researchers were studying worker productivity. But they encountered a problem. When the researchers gave attention to the employees, the workers’ productivity didn’t remain static, it increased. This change in productivity was produced simply by an awareness that they were being studied, and it skewed the study.
Obviously, the Hawthorne Effect drives researchers crazy, but for those who wish to change behavior it is quite encouraging. It means that all I have to do to increase the frequency of a desired behavior, or decrease the frequency of a negative behavior is to notice it! Just my awareness of it will change the results……
For instance, if a mother is concerned about how often she speaks in habitually negative language to her children, she can decide to count all the negative statements she makes. Without any apparent self-discipline, as she becomes aware of how many times a day she responds to a child negatively, she will instinctively improve. Being aware enough to count and report our experiences is a dynamic and positive process.
[One method of doing this is to] fill one pocket with pennies at the beginning of the day. Each time [a mother] responds with positive language to her children rather than negative language, she takes one penny and transfers it to the other pocket. At the end of the day, she writes down the number of pennies in the second pocket. I have done this to self-monitor all sorts of behaviors, and the Hawthorne Effect always holds true. As I continue to count and record, the positive behaviors increase and the negative behaviors decrease.
(Virginia Pearce, A Heart Like His, pg. 88-91)
4 comments:
that sounds like alot of remembering to me! Do you jingle all day? I think I would forget what the pennies were for because as I go along and see loose change(or anything else), I pick it up and put it in my pocket. It makes for story at the end of the day.
dont'cha love that ticker? It's fun to see who's visited :)
I am trying it too. What a great idea. She gave a great talk. What a neat lady to have as your mother-in-law.
Sounds like a great idea and a great book too, I'll have to give it a whirl. By the way the flowers looked great... carnations are not my favorite either but of course you managed to do something wonderful with them!!
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