sidelong analysis

[novapsyche]

After glancing at supergee's journal, I came across a term that led me to a page that describes our administration succinctly:

The Hawthorn Effect is where the participants or subjects in research projects, instead of acting naturally, try to please the researcher by giving her the results she is looking for. It is named after The GE corporation in Hawthorn, Ohio. It is also known as subject or response bias

Single blind control - is where the researcher or the participant does not know the purpose of the experiment. When the researcher is 'blind' this controls for the Rosenthal Effect or researcher bias; i.e. seeing what you want to see rather than what is there.

The Hawthorne Effect (Why it's spelled differently is not known to me)

So, with regards to the Bush adminstration, Cheney kept visiting the CIA when the administration was looking for intelligence on Iraq. The analysts eventually began giving Cheney what he was looking for (albeit in the weakest language as they could muster): the Hawthorn effect.

As far as the intelligence itself, Cheney et al. cherry-picked, talking up what looked good: the Rosenthal effect.

Comments

[pgdudda.livejournal.com]

Don't forget about "groupthink", where everyone in a team is in the same mental track, so much so that they aren't able to even conceive of alternative options existing.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember reading several articles two or so years ago using that term.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

I see from Google that both the spelling and the definition of "Hawthorn effect" vary. I've always thought of it in terms of unconscious improvement brought about by being experimented upon. Just taking a new antidepressant made me feel better for a while.

I'm adding you to my reading list.

[xiombarg.livejournal.com]

Oooh, very interesting...