Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting
Top Cited Papers
- 27 June 2006
- journal article
- Published by The Royal Society in Biology Letters
- Vol. 2 (3), 412-414
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2006.0509
Abstract
We examined the effect of an image of a pair of eyes on contributions to an honesty box used to collect money for drinks in a university coffee room. People paid nearly three times as much for their drinks when eyes were displayed rather than a control image. This finding provides the first evidence from a naturalistic setting of the importance of cues of being watched, and hence reputational concerns, on human cooperative behaviour.Keywords
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