眼睛讓人更誠實

萬 學

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

“Theres an argument that if nobody is watching us it is in our interests to behave selfishly. But when we think were being watched we should behave better,so people see us as co-operative and behave the same way towards us,”Dr Bateson said.

People paid between 10p and 30p a litre of milk when pictures of flowers were put above the honesty box. When the eyes were used the payments went up to nearly 70p a litre. People paid more if the eyes were those of a male. “We thought wed get a subtle effect with eyes,but it was really quite striking how much difference they made. Even at a subconscious level,it seems people respond to eyes,and that might be because eyes and faces send a strong biological signal we have evolved to respond to.”

The scientists say companies and governments could tap into our evolved response to a persons gaze to improve honesty. “It raises interesting questions about how we might improve systems to reduce antisocial behaviour and things like making people pay up on public transport. Signs that say ‘CCTV cameras in operation should, perhaps,be accompanied by a pair of eyes instead of a picture of a camera. Weve not evolved to pay much attention to cameras,”said Dr Bateson.

實可能是我們做人處事的上策，但是它在無人監督時通常會遺棄我們，心理學家今日報告說。用一只檢驗人們是否誠實的盒子收取熱飲費的實驗表明，當被一雙眼睛警惕地注視時，人們會更自覺地付清全部費用。令人驚訝的是，那雙眼睛并不是真的，而是一張圖像。這一發現——研究者認為有助于說明我們的進化歷程——可能被轉化到實際應用中。心理學家說，像珠子般雪亮的眼睛圖像能夠提高公共交通的車票銷售額，改善監視系統以阻止反社會行為。

紐卡斯爾大學的研究者們秘密地開展了這個實驗，因此他們所在部門的同事不會因此改變自己的行為。他們將一份海報張貼在"誠實盒"上方擺滿杯子的碗櫥上，盒子旁邊擺放著一只壺，還放有茶、咖啡和牛奶。在10多個周的實驗期內，他們在各周間交替使用眼睛圖像和花卉圖片。

“我們把海報放在一個醒目的位置，當你拿杯子時，你不可能看不到。”梅利莎·貝特森說，她是行為生物學家和此次研究的負責人。在每周結束時，貝特森博士都會合計誠實盒中的錢數以及牛奶使用量——飲料消耗量的指示器。在海報為眼睛圖像的每個周，盒中的錢數都會暴漲。

貝特森博士說，即使眼睛不是真的，它們似乎仍然能促使人們表現得更加誠實。這種效果可能起因于人類早期在結成社會群體維持生存的過程中形成的行為特性。社會群體要發揮作用，個人就必須為群體利益相互合作，而不能只顧自己。

“有一種觀點認為，如果沒有人監督，我們就會自私地按照個人的利益行事。可當我們想到有人監督時，我們就會表現得更好，以便人們看到我們樂于合作，并以同樣的方式對待我們。”貝特森博士說。

當花卉圖片被置于誠實盒上方時，人們會為每升牛奶支付10英鎊到30英鎊；當使用眼睛圖像時，人們的支付額提高到了每升將近70英鎊。如果眼睛是男性的，人們支付的就更多。“我們原以為用眼睛會取得微妙的效果，但沒想到它們產生的效果竟然如此驚人。甚至在潛意識狀態下，人們似乎都會對眼睛作出反應，這可能是因為眼睛和表情傳遞出了一種強烈的生物信號，而我們已經進化到能對這種信號作出反應了。”

科學家們說，政府和企業可以運用我們進化出的對別人注視的反應能力來提高人們的誠信度。“它提出了許多有趣的問題：我們如何改進體制從而減少反社會行為，如何促使人們在公共交通方面足額付費。也許，那些寫著‘閉路電視攝像機監控中的警示語旁應附上眼睛圖像而不是攝像機圖片。我們還沒有進化到注意攝像機的地步。”貝特森博士說。