Big Brother Eyes Encourage Honesty
Psychologists conducted an experiment on their
unsuspecting colleagues and found that they put nearly three times as much money
into an ‘honesty box’ when they were being "watched".
Psychologists who conducted an experiment on their unsuspecting colleagues found that they put nearly three times as much money into an ‘honesty box’ when they were being watched by a pair of eyes on a poster, compared with a poster that featured an image of flowers.
The researchers say the eye pictures were probably influential because the brain naturally reacts to images of faces and eyes. It seems people were subconsciously cooperating with the honesty box when it featured pictures of eyes rather than flowers.
Maybe that’s what that eye is really for on the dollar bill?
Posted: Sun - July 2, 2006 at 06:43 AM