The watching-eyes phenomenon and blood donation: Does exposure to pictures of eyes increase blood donation by young adults?

Sénémeaud, Cécile; Sanrey, Camille; Callé, Nathalie; Plainfossé, Candice; Belhaire, Alexandra; Georget, Patrice

doi:10.1016/j.transci.2016.11.001

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…For example, eye images had prosocial effects such as cooperation for the clearing of trays in a university cafeteria ( Ernest-Jones et al , 2011 ) and for waste sorting at a bus stop ( Francey and Bergmüller, 2012 ). Similar results were found in experiments in more specific contexts such as blood donations: While eye images on flyers did not result in differences in pledge with a logo as control, more “real” donations were made by students who got the flyers with eyes image ( Sénémeaud et al , 2017 ). Other than the activation of a “sense of being seen” ( Pfattheicher and Keller, 2015 ) or the desire to maintain a pro-social reputation ( Bateson et al , 2006 ), it is important to note that humans possess neurons that respond to faces and eyes and activate such prosocial behaviors ( Emery, 2000 ; Haxby et al , 2000 ).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Eye image effect in the context of pedestrian safety: a French questionnaire study

Sueur,

Piermattéo,

Pelé

2023

F1000Res

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Human behavior is influenced by the presence of others, which scientists also call ‘the audience effect’. The use of social control to produce more cooperative behaviors may positively influence road use and safety. This study uses an online questionnaire to test how eyes images affect the behavior of pedestrians when crossing a road. Different eyes images of men, women and a child with different facial expressions -neutral, friendly and angry- were presented to participants who were asked what they would feel by looking at these images before crossing a signalized road. Participants completed a questionnaire of 20 questions about pedestrian behaviors (PBQ). The questionnaire was received by 1,447 French participants, 610 of whom answered the entire questionnaire. Seventy-one percent of participants were women, and the mean age was 35 ± 14 years. Eye images give individuals the feeling they are being observed at 33%, feared at 5% and surprised at 26%, and thus seem to indicate mixed results about avoiding crossing at the red light. The expressions shown in the eyes are also an important factor: feelings of being observed increased by about 10-15% whilst feelings of being scared or inhibited increased by about 5% as the expression changed from neutral to friendly to angry. No link was found between the results of our questionnaire and those of the Pedestrian Behavior Questionnaire (PBQ). This study shows that the use of eye images could reduce illegal crossings by pedestrians, and is thus of key interest as a practical road safety tool. However, the effect is limited and how to increase this nudge effect needs further consideration.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Eye image effect in the context of pedestrian safety: a French questionnaire study

Sueur,

Piermattéo,

Pelé

2023

F1000Res

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show abstract

“…The results reported here clearly showed that the eye cues increased the frequency of punishment, even it requires immediate costs. At first glance, such fact might seem unexpected, but it matches with related findings showing that eye cues can engender behaviors that, though seemed to be problematic for themselves, actually work to enhance prosociality (e.g., Burnham and Hare, 2007;Sénémeaud et al, 2017). Prior work studying the decision-making process in the dictator game suggested that such decisions are led by two-step process.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

“Watching Eyes” Triggers Third-Party Punishment: The Role of Emotion Within the Eyes

Shangguan

Shi

et al. 2021

Front. Psychol.

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Third-party punishment refers to a behavioral phenomenon whereby people punish wrongdoers even if their sanction incurs personal costs but yields no direct benefits. Given the eye cues demonstrated ability to convey signals of being observed, its effect on third-party punishment, driven by virtue of its effects on others' perceptions, was investigated. In addition, emotional message featured in the eye region is crucial in social interaction, whether the emotion within the eyes serves this effect with varying degrees of influence has rarely considered. The present study aimed at exploring (a) the watching eyes effect on the third-party punishment and (b) whether this effect varies from negative eyes to positive eyes. By two experiments using a modified Third-Party Dictator Game, we displayed either eye images or control images above the question on whether to punish the dictators or not. There was no emotional diversity of eye cues in Experiment 1, and most participants tended to punish for unfair offer. However, the appearance of eye images increased the punishment relative to control images. In Experiment 2, the eye cues were subdivided into positive and negative. The effect of watching eyes on the third-party punishment was significantly stronger when the eyes were negative than positive. Results revealed that eye cues play a role in promoting the third-party punishment and offer a potential insight into the mixed findings, such that the emotion within the eyes, especially the negative expression in the eyes, may influence the watching eyes effect.

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“…For example, eye images had prosocial effects such as cooperation for the clearing of trays in a university cafeteria (Ernest-Jones et al, 2011) and for waste sorting at a bus stop (Francey and Bergmüller, 2012). Similar results were found in experiments in more specific contexts such as blood donations: While eye images on flyers did not result in differences in pledge with a logo as control, more "real" donations were made by students who got the flyers with eyes image (Sénémeaud et al, 2017). Other than the activation of a "sense of being seen" (Pfattheicher and Keller, 2015) or the desire to maintain a pro-social reputation (Bateson et al, 2006), it is important to note that humans possess neurons that respond to faces and eyes and activate such prosocial behaviors (Emery, 2000;Haxby et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Eye image effect in the context of pedestrian safety: a French questionnaire study

Sueur¹,

Piermattéo²,

Péle³

2021

Preprint

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Introduction: Human behavior is therefore influenced by the presence of others, which scientists also call ‘the audience effect’. The use of social control to produce more cooperative behaviors may positively influence road use and safety. This study uses an online questionnaire to test how eyes images affect the behavior of pedestrians when crossing a road. Material and methods: Different eyes images of men, women and a child with different facial expressions -neutral, friendly and angry- were presented to participants who were asked what they would feel by looking at these images before crossing a signalized road. Participants completed a questionnaire of 20 questions about pedestrian behaviors (PBQ). The questionnaire was received by 1,447 French participants, 610 of whom answered the entire questionnaire. 71% of participants were women, and the mean age was 35±14 years. Results: Eye images give individuals the feeling they are being observed at 33%, feared at 5% and surprised at 26%, and thus seem to indicate mixed results about avoiding crossing at the red light. The expressions shown in the eyes are also an important factor: feelings of being observed increased by about 10-15% whilst feelings of being scared or inhibited increased by about 5% as the expression changed from neutral to friendly to angry. No link was found between the results of our questionnaire and those of the Pedestrian Behavior Questionnaire (PBQ).Conclusion: This study shows that the use of eye images could reduce illegal crossings by pedestrians, and is thus of key interest as a practical road safety tool. However, the effect is limited and how to increase this nudge effect needs further consideration.

show abstract

The watching-eyes phenomenon and blood donation: Does exposure to pictures of eyes increase blood donation by young adults?

Cited by 13 publications

References 10 publications

Eye image effect in the context of pedestrian safety: a French questionnaire study

Eye image effect in the context of pedestrian safety: a French questionnaire study

“Watching Eyes” Triggers Third-Party Punishment: The Role of Emotion Within the Eyes

Eye image effect in the context of pedestrian safety: a French questionnaire study

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