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On the social nature of eyes: the effect of social cues in interaction and individual choice tasks

Baillon, Aurelien; Selim, Asli; van Dolder, Dennie

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Authors

Aurelien Baillon

Asli Selim

Dennie van Dolder



Abstract

In an experimental setting, we applied a dual strategy to better understand the effect of pictures of eyes on human behavior. First, we investigated whether the effect of eyes was limited to interaction tasks in which the subjects’ decisions influenced the outcomes of other subjects. We expanded the range of tasks to include individual choice tasks in which the subjects’ decisions only influenced their own outcomes. Second, we investigated whether pictures of eyes were one of many social cues or were unique in their effect. We compared the effect of pictures of eyes with the effect of a different condition in which we presented the subjects with pictures of other students (peers). Our results suggest that the effect of pictures of eyes is limited to interaction tasks and that eyes should be considered distinct from other social cues, such as reminders of peers. While pictures of eyes uniformly enhanced pro-social behavior in interaction tasks, this was not the case for reminders of peers. Furthermore, the reminders of peers led to more rational behavior in individual choice tasks, whereas the effect of pictures of eyes was limited to situations involving interaction. Combined, these findings are in line with the claim that the effect of pictures of eyes on behavior is caused by a social exchange heuristic that works to enhance mutual cooperative behavior.

Citation

Baillon, A., Selim, A., & van Dolder, D. (2013). On the social nature of eyes: the effect of social cues in interaction and individual choice tasks. Evolution and Human Behavior, 34(2), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.12.001

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 21, 2013
Deposit Date Nov 17, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Evolution and Human Behavior
Print ISSN 1090-5138
Electronic ISSN 1090-5138
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 34
Issue 2
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.12.001
Keywords Altruism, Ambiguity, Compound Lotteries, Cooperation, Cues, Dictator Game, Eyes, Generosity, Joy of Destruction, Reputation
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/712846
Publisher URL http://www.ehbonline.org/article/S1090-5138(12)00135-3/abstract

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