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 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.

MoreLess

Year of publication:	2006
Authors:	Nettle, Daniel ; Roberts, Gilbert ; Bateson, Melissa
Institutions:	The Field Experiments Website

More details

Series:	Natural Field Experiments.
Type of publication:	Book / Working Paper
Source:	RePEc - Research Papers in Economics

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10011038921