Are you being visibly honest?

HONESTY may well be the best policy, but it often deserts us when no one is watching, psychologists report.

Experiments with an honesty box to collect payments for hot drinks reveal that people are better at paying up when under the watchful gaze of a pair of eyes. The surprise was that the eyes were not real, but photographed. The finding, which researchers believe sheds light on our evolutionary past, could be turned to practical use. The psychologists say images of beady eyes could boost ticket sales on public transport and improve surveillance systems to deter antisocial behaviour.
Researchers at Newcastle University set up the experiment in secret, so colleagues in their department would not change their behaviour. They attached a poster to a cupboard of mugs above an honesty box alongside a kettle, with tea, coffee and milk. Over 10 weeks, they alternated each week between images of eyes and pictures of flowers.
“We put the poster in a position that you couldn’t fail to see it as you were getting a mug,” said Melissa Bateson, a behavioural biologist and leader of the study. At the end of each week Dr Bateson totted up the money in the honesty box and the amount of milk used — an indicator of the number drinks consumed. The money shot up every week the poster showed a pair of eyes.
Dr Bateson said that even though the eyes were not real they still seemed to make people behave more honestly. The effect may arise from behavioural traits that developed as early humans formed social groups that bolstered their chances of survival. For social groups to work individuals had to co-operate for the good of the group, rather than act selfishly.
The scientists say companies and governments could tap into our evolved response to a person’s gaze to improve honesty.

Ian Sample