Our brain naturally reacts to images of faces and eyes. FuturePundit points out that “pictures of eyes make us more honest”.
Researchers monitored an Honesty Box as a way of paying for hot drinks in a staff room at a campus in the United Kingdom.
A poster featured an image banner across the top, alternating each week between different pictures of flowers and images of eyes looking directly at the observer.
The team recorded money collected and the total drink consumption.
On average, people paid nearly 3 times more for their drinks on the weeks when the poster featured pictures of eyes.
People behave differently when they believe they are being watched because they are worried what others will think of them.