No effect of 'watching eyes': An attempted replication and extension investigating individual differences.
Some evidence suggests that people behave more cooperatively and generously when observed or in the presence of images of eyes (termed the 'watching eyes' effect). Eye images are thought to trigger feelings of observation, which in turn motivate people to behave more cooperatively to earn...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2021-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255531 |
| _version_ | 1818742282700980224 |
|---|---|
| author | Amanda Rotella Adam Maxwell Sparks Sandeep Mishra Pat Barclay |
| author_facet | Amanda Rotella Adam Maxwell Sparks Sandeep Mishra Pat Barclay |
| author_sort | Amanda Rotella |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Some evidence suggests that people behave more cooperatively and generously when observed or in the presence of images of eyes (termed the 'watching eyes' effect). Eye images are thought to trigger feelings of observation, which in turn motivate people to behave more cooperatively to earn a good reputation. However, several recent studies have failed to find evidence of the eyes effect. One possibility is that inconsistent evidence in support of the eyes effect is a product of individual differences in sensitivity or susceptibility to the cue. In fact, some evidence suggests that people who are generally more prosocial are less susceptible to situation-specific reputation-based cues of observation. In this paper, we sought to (1) replicate the eyes effect, (2) replicate the past finding that people who are dispositionally less prosocial are more responsive to observation than people who are more dispositionally more prosocial, and (3) determine if this effect extends to the watching eyes effect. Results from a pre-registered study showed that people did not give more money in a dictator game when decisions were made public or in the presence of eye images, even though participants felt more observed when decisions were public. That is, we failed to replicate the eyes effect and observation effect. An initial, but underpowered, interaction model suggests that egoists give less than prosocials in private, but not public, conditions. This suggests a direction for future research investigating if and how individual differences in prosociality influence observation effects. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T02:10:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1851b8a299af43df872134831bdd6b5d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T02:10:03Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-1851b8a299af43df872134831bdd6b5d2022-12-21T21:24:30ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-011610e025553110.1371/journal.pone.0255531No effect of 'watching eyes': An attempted replication and extension investigating individual differences.Amanda RotellaAdam Maxwell SparksSandeep MishraPat BarclaySome evidence suggests that people behave more cooperatively and generously when observed or in the presence of images of eyes (termed the 'watching eyes' effect). Eye images are thought to trigger feelings of observation, which in turn motivate people to behave more cooperatively to earn a good reputation. However, several recent studies have failed to find evidence of the eyes effect. One possibility is that inconsistent evidence in support of the eyes effect is a product of individual differences in sensitivity or susceptibility to the cue. In fact, some evidence suggests that people who are generally more prosocial are less susceptible to situation-specific reputation-based cues of observation. In this paper, we sought to (1) replicate the eyes effect, (2) replicate the past finding that people who are dispositionally less prosocial are more responsive to observation than people who are more dispositionally more prosocial, and (3) determine if this effect extends to the watching eyes effect. Results from a pre-registered study showed that people did not give more money in a dictator game when decisions were made public or in the presence of eye images, even though participants felt more observed when decisions were public. That is, we failed to replicate the eyes effect and observation effect. An initial, but underpowered, interaction model suggests that egoists give less than prosocials in private, but not public, conditions. This suggests a direction for future research investigating if and how individual differences in prosociality influence observation effects.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255531 |
| spellingShingle | Amanda Rotella Adam Maxwell Sparks Sandeep Mishra Pat Barclay No effect of 'watching eyes': An attempted replication and extension investigating individual differences. PLoS ONE |
| title | No effect of 'watching eyes': An attempted replication and extension investigating individual differences. |
| title_full | No effect of 'watching eyes': An attempted replication and extension investigating individual differences. |
| title_fullStr | No effect of 'watching eyes': An attempted replication and extension investigating individual differences. |
| title_full_unstemmed | No effect of 'watching eyes': An attempted replication and extension investigating individual differences. |
| title_short | No effect of 'watching eyes': An attempted replication and extension investigating individual differences. |
| title_sort | no effect of watching eyes an attempted replication and extension investigating individual differences |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255531 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT amandarotella noeffectofwatchingeyesanattemptedreplicationandextensioninvestigatingindividualdifferences AT adammaxwellsparks noeffectofwatchingeyesanattemptedreplicationandextensioninvestigatingindividualdifferences AT sandeepmishra noeffectofwatchingeyesanattemptedreplicationandextensioninvestigatingindividualdifferences AT patbarclay noeffectofwatchingeyesanattemptedreplicationandextensioninvestigatingindividualdifferences |