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The Hawthorne Effect
Posted by condour at September 26, 2005 10:22 AM September 26, 2005 (perm)

Test results improve as a result of measuring them. Though the study was originally undertaken in an industrial context, I've found this to be true with any personal or business improvement initiative. If, for instance, you start watching your weight religiously, it will improve. Same with your bank account. We instinctively start playing games with the numbers, making small subconscious choices to put things back on the right path.

Of course the downside is that unobserved metrics may suffer as a result. If I start watching my weight, and successfully start to move it down, do I start losing muscle mass or energy if I made the changes in a damaging way?

Maybe the key is to watch all relevant stats about your life on a regular basis, effectively becoming a human Sim. I dunno. But I might start watching my bank account more closely.

Comments

I've tried this approach with my penis size...but it doesn't seem to work. No change.

Posted by: mrdangel at September 30, 2005 09:32 AM

I've been getting some email that might help you.

Posted by: condour at September 30, 2005 01:01 PM

Of course the downside is that unobserved metrics may suffer as a result. If I start watching my weight, and successfully start to move it down, do I start losing muscle mass or energy if I made the changes in a damaging way?

Posted by: Ann at January 4, 2006 01:03 AM

Maybe the key is to watch all relevant stats about your life on a regular basis, effectively becoming a human Sim. I dunno. But I might start watching my bank account more closely.

Posted by: Kate at January 20, 2006 02:43 AM

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