The Hawthorne effect is the tendency of people to change their behaviour because they know they are being watched. It was named after experiments at the Hawthorne Works, a Western Electric plant in Cicero, Illinois, in the 1920s and 1930s. Researchers had thought that changing lighting and rest breaks raised productivity, but later reviews found the original lighting conclusions were unreliable. Sociologist Henry Landsberger later argued that the attention given to workers was the real driver, and that label stuck.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.