Watching-eye effect

The watching-eye effect says that people behave more altruistically and exhibit less antisocial behavior in the presence of images that depict eyes, because these images insinuate that they are being watched. Eyes are strong signals of perception for humans. They signify that our actions are being seen and paid attention to even through mere depictions of eyes.[1]

A sticker warning that the reader is being filmed. Even the presence of an eye symbol on a sticker is enough to change a person's behavior.

It has been demonstrated that these effects are so pronounced that even depictions of eyes are enough to trigger them. This means that people need not actually be watched, but that a simple photograph of eyes is enough to elicit feelings that individuals are being watched which can impact their behavior to be more pro-social and less antisocial.[2] Empirical psychological research has continually shown that the visible presence of images depicting eyes nudges people towards slightly, but measurably more honest and more pro-social behavior.[3]

The concept is part of the psychology of surveillance and has implications for the areas of crime reduction and prevention without increasing actual surveillance, just by psychological measures alone. By simply inserting signs depicting eyes and leading others to believe they are being watched, crime can be reduced, as it leads to behavior that is more socially acceptable.[4]

Similar effects

The effect differs from the psychic staring effect in that the latter describes the feeling of being watched, whereas individuals who succumb to the watching-eye effect are usually aware that the eyes are only images.[2]

Evidence of effects on behavior

Effects on pro-social behavior

There is evidence that images of eyes being present cause people to behave pro-socially. Pro-social behavior is acting in a way or with the intent that benefits others or sometimes even the society as a whole. There are two forms of motivation that support this. One being negative motivation that makes people want to avoid behavior that is wrong and violates the norm. They want to keep up a positive social image, or be seen improving their image rather than worsening it. The second being positive motivation to get a reward or benefits in the future. They believed that under watching eyes that if they behaved in a positive manner that benefited others, they were likely to get paid back for it in the future.[3]

Pro-social experiments

Certain studies have shown that under the influence of eyes people will behave as truthfully honest. Under controlled groups without images of eyes present people were more likely to behave anti-socially and lie for the benefit of others.[3] People lean toward honestly rather than acting generously to keep a good image in these situations in order to avoid violating norms. In these situations honesty is often chosen since it is seen as the most pro-social behavior.[3]

There are more examples of studies that show that pro-social behavior is more likely under watchful behavior. People were more likely to share things such as money in games that had to do with economics when presented with images with eyes.[3] People were also shown to be more likely to pick up trash at bus stops and pick up after themselves in a cafeteria,[3] they were less likely to commit bicycle theft,[4] and people were much more likely to give the full amount of money for their coffee on certain days that images of eyes were put up nearby.[3]

In an experiment on littering funded by the School of Psychology at Newcastle University it was found that places that already had trash on the ground tending to have an increase in littering, showing that people tend to behave in ways that seem socially acceptable. Likewise, it was discovered that images of eyes that insinuated watching caused a reduce in littering however, the reduction of littering was mainly only present when there were also larger groups of people around. The findings of this study added to the idea that watching eyes reduce anti-social behavior and increase people to behave more pro-socially.[5]

Donation experiment

In situations where the image of eyes were present people were also more likely to be generous with donations and give more. One study testing this was done at the University of Virginia by Caroline Kelsey.[6] The study was done at a children's museum where there was a donation box at the front desk. Data was collected from this setting for 28 weeks, testing more than 34,100 people who visited in the span of this time. Each week the sign over the box that usually read "Donations would be appreciated" changed to primarily images of eyes or other inanimate objects such as chairs or noses with some wording with it. Throughout each week the number of people who visited the museum was recording along with the total amount of donations made. By the end of the study it was found that patrons donated more under the presence of eyes on the signs rather than other inanimate objects.[7]

More on studies

Other studies in relation to the watching-eye-effect show that people are more cooperative and aware of themselves when their identity is exposed as opposed to when they are acting anonymously. They act more respectively and appropriately because their reputation is at risk when they are being watched by others or feel that they are being watched. Even in some studies that insisted to their participants that their actions were anonymous they were still more generous because they felt identified by the eyes.[1]

Some studies argue that it may not be the effect of these eyes that gives people incentive to be more generous, but the number of people that are around them that make them feel peer pressure to conform to more pro-social behavior.[8]

gollark: So, you're... scared of some sort of mind-controlling monster thing which only affects people who see a specific image/trigger/whatever?
gollark: Yes, that was really obviously... inferable.
gollark: ???
gollark: ÆÆÆÆÆÆ
gollark: Which may or may not just be rebranded multivitamins.

See also

References
  1. Mackenzie, Debora. "Big Brother' eyes make us act more honestly". New Scientist. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  2. Dear, Keith; Dutton, Kevin; Fox, Elaine (2019-05-01). "Do 'watching eyes' influence antisocial behavior? A systematic review & meta-analysis". Evolution and Human Behavior. 40 (3): 269–280. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2019.01.006. ISSN 1090-5138.
  3. Oda, Ryo; Kato, Yuta; Hiraishi, Kai (2015-09-01). "The Watching-Eye Effect on Prosocial Lying". Evolutionary Psychology. 13 (3): 1474704915594959. doi:10.1177/1474704915594959. ISSN 1474-7049.
  4. Nettle, Daniel; Nott, Kenneth; Bateson, Melissa (2012-12-12). "'Cycle Thieves, We Are Watching You': Impact of a Simple Signage Intervention against Bicycle Theft". PLOS One. 7 (12): e51738. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...751738N. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051738. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3520908. PMID 23251615.
  5. Bateson, Melissa; Callow, Luke; Holmes, Jessica R.; Roche, Maximilian L. Redmond; Nettle, Daniel (2013-12-05). "Do Images of 'Watching Eyes' Induce Behaviour That Is More Pro-Social or More Normative? A Field Experiment on Littering". PLOS ONE. 8 (12): e82055. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082055. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3855385. PMID 24339990.
  6. Kelsey, Caroline; Vaish, Amrisha; Grossmann, Tobias (2018-12-01). "Eyes, More Than Other Facial Features, Enhance Real-World Donation Behavior". Human Nature. 29 (4): 390–401. doi:10.1007/s12110-018-9327-1. ISSN 1936-4776.
  7. "People donate more when they sense they are being watched: Study suggests that eyes serve as cues to monitor and elicit charitable behavior". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  8. Oda, Ryo (2019-05-28). "Is the watching-eye effect a fluke?". Letters on Evolutionary Behavioral Science. 10 (1): 4–6. doi:10.5178/lebs.2019.68. ISSN 1884-927X.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.