Eye Poster Puts Off Bike Thieves

Hi ya! How's trix? Mosey on over to the coffeepot. Pour yourself a delightfully refreshing mug of Joe and help yourself to a virtual muffin while you're over there. Say... have you ever had a feeling that someone is watching you? You know...the urge to turn around...hairs on the back of your neck standing up...that sort of thing. I'm sure we all have. Well, here's a case where the psychology of 'thinking' we may be watched is a deterrent.

Bike thefts have been cut sharply at a university just by placing a poster of watchful eyes above the cycle racks, according to researchers. The two-year experiment at Newcastle University was suggested by a security manager at the campus who had seen similar studies indicating that people behave better when they feel they are being watched. Academics found that bike racks where the poster was present had 62% fewer thefts than the previous year, while those without the poster saw thefts rise by 63%.

For the first year, the team monitored the level of bike thefts from all racks across campus for a control figure.  They then placed the posters in three locations, leaving the rest of the racks without signs. Crime levels were monitored at all the sites for a year.

Professor Melissa Bateson and Professor Daniel Nettle, of the Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, and Ken Nott, of Newcastle University's security team, were behind the study.

"We don't know exactly what is happening here but this just adds to the growing evidence that images of eyes can have a big impact on behaviour," said Professor Nettle. "We think that the presence of eye images can encourage co-operative behaviour. One strong possibility is that the images of eyes work by making people feel watched. We care what other people think about us, and as a result we behave better when we feel we are being observed."

I suppose that's true. At times we are on our best behavior and that is usually when we are applying for a job (being watched, as it were), in church, although I do think younger folks nowadays tend to disregard a lot of the old values. I am also sure that has been said ever since time began and cave kids acted 'different from their parents'. Some might say that leads to inquisitiveness which in turn leads to progress.

See ya, eh!

Bob