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Your honest, Right?,

Are you more honest if someone is watching?

June 19, 2006

Even unseeing eyes can make people more honest

By Lee Bowman

June 29, 2006

English researchers found office workers kicked nearly three times more into an “honesty box” to pay for coffee and tea when they were faced by a poster that made it seem human eyes were watching them.

“I was really surprised by how big the effect was, as we were expecting it to be quite subtle,” said Melissa Bateson, a behavioral science researcher based at Newcastle University who led the study. “But the statistics show that the eyes had a strong effect on our tea and coffee drinkers.”

The study, published yesterday in the online journal Biology Letters, made use of a long-running kitty arrangement in a common room used by about 48 staff, so there was no reason for workers to suspect that an experiment was being run. The journal is published by The Royal Society, Great Britain's scientific academy.

The lone change to the setup was a poster placed above the cash box listing prices of tea, coffee and milk, with an image banner across the top that alternated each week between different pictures of flowers or images that featured eyes looking directly down on the serving table.

The eye pictures varied in the sex and head orientation of the face, but all were chosen so that the eyes seemed to look directly at the observer.

Each week, as the signs changed, the researchers recorded the amount of money collected, and the volume of milk consumed, since that was considered the best index of total drink consumption.

The team then calculated the ratio of money collected to the volume of milk consumed each week, and found that during the weeks when the poster featured pictures of eyes, people paid 2.76 times as much for their drinks as during the weeks when flowers were on display.

The researchers argue that the eyes were influential because the brain naturally reacts to images of faces and eyes. “Our brains are programmed to respond to eyes and faces whether we are consciously aware of it or not,” Bateson said, adding that the findings could have implications for any number of campaigns to curb anti-social behavior, from jumping toll gates to road safety.

They also say the findings show how people behave differently when they believe they're being watched, because they're concerned about what others will think of them. Generally speaking, being seen as cooperative is desirable, because others are more likely to return the gesture when the individual needs help.

“People are less likely to be selfish if they feel they are being watched, which has huge implications for real life,” Bateson said.

“For example, this could be applied to warnings about speed cameras. A sign bearing an image of a camera is less effective because it has to be actively processed by our brains,” Bateson explained. “Our research, along with previous studies, suggests drivers would react much more quickly and positively to (signs that carry) natural stimuli such as eyes and faces.”

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