December 9 2010
Sky News

"The presence of eye images can encourage co-operative behaviour," said Dr Bateson.

“We care what other people think about us, and hence we behave better when we feel we are being observed."

She added: "This study has implications for the fight against anti-social behaviour.

"For example, if signs for CCTV cameras used pictures of eyes instead of cameras they could be more effective."

The research showed that the picture of eyes had the greatest effect when the canteen was almost empty.

"This makes total sense," said Dr Bateson.

"We would expect real people to have the greatest effect on the feeling of being watched and hence swamp the effect of the posters during busy times."
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