Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting

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 ï¬nding provides the ï¬rst evidence from a naturalistic setting of the importance of cues of being watched, and hence reputational concerns, on human cooperative behaviour.

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Year of publication:	2006
Authors:	Bateson, M. ; Nettle, D. ; Roberts, G.
Institutions:	The Field Experiments Website
Subject:	cooperation \| honesty box \| reputation \| observation

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Extent:	application/pdf
Series:	Natural Field Experiments.
Type of publication:	Book / Working Paper
Notes:	Published in Biology Letters 3: 412-4 Number 59
Source:	RePEc - Research Papers in Economics

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10010580396