In conducting an experiment on prison violence, researchers randomly placed cameras in certain cells. The results showed unusually low incidents of conflict between prisoners in areas where cameras were present. This change in the prisoners' behavior as a result of being observed is known as

the Hawthorne effect

Explanation:

In conducting an experiment on prison violence, researchers randomly placed cameras in certain cells. The results showed unusually low incidents of conflict between prisoners in areas where cameras were present. This change in the prisoners' behavior as a result of being observed is known as the Hawthorne effect.

The Hawthorne Effect is the tendency for people who are the subjects of an experimental study to make positive adjustment to their behavior that is being evaluated only because it is being studied and not because of changes in the experiment parameters or stimulus.

In this case the prisoners adjusted their behavior because of the presence of cameras not for any other reason.

experiments.

surveys.

questionnaires.

interviews.

case studies.

participant and non-participant observation.

observational trials.

studies using the delphi method.

as university of miami psychologists debra lieberman and adam smith pointed out in a recent article in the journal current directions in psychological science, humans have social and psychological mechanisms to deter incest. with very few exceptions, marriages between brothers and sisters and between parents and their children are verboten in every human culture. the primary psychological anti-incest mechanism is the yuck response. even the idea of sex with their mom or dad, bro or sis is upsetting to most people. the psychologist jonathan haidt has found that nearly everyone is repelled by the prospect of brother-sister sex, even in hypothetical situations in which there is no chance of pregnancy).

the biological cost of incest

this raises an interesting question: just what’s so bad about incest? sure, having sex with your dad or your sister seems gross — but why? some anthropologists have argued that incest taboos are learned social conventions. this explanation, however, doesn’t make sense to me as it does not explain the widespread existence of anti-incest mechanisms in creatures ranging from cockroaches to chimpanzees. second, the incest taboo is about as close to a universal law as human moral rules get.

why should mechanisms to avoid incest be so widespread both in nature and across human societies? the answer is simple. the problem with having sex close with relatives is that there is an astonishingly high chance that your offspring will be born with a serious birth defect.