Does feeling "watched" reduce anti-social behavior?

Angela

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Yes.

Did you need to do a study for this? Many studies??? :)

See:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513817303264

"[h=1]Do ‘watching eyes’ influence antisocial behavior? A systematic review & meta-analysis"[/h]
"[h=2]Abstract[/h]Eye cues have been shown to stimulate rapid, reflexive, unconscious processing and in many experimental settings to cue increased prosocial and decreased antisocial behaviour. Eye cues are being widely applied in public policy to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour. Recently, failed replication attempts and two meta-analyses examining the eye cue effect on generosity have raised doubts regarding earlier findings. Much of the wider evidence on eye cues has still not been systematically reviewed, notably that which is most relevant to its practical application: the effect of eye cues on antisocial behaviour. Given the evidence of humans' heightened sensitivity to threat and negative information, we hypothesized that the watching eyes effect would be more consistent in studies examining antisocial behaviour. In our meta-analysis of 15 experiments from 13 research papers we report a reduction in the risk of antisocial behaviour of 35% when eye cues are present. By contrast, systematic reviews have suggested CCTV cameras reduce crime by only 16%. We conclude that there is sufficient evidence of a watching eyes effect on antisocial behaviour to justify their use in the very low-cost and potentially high-impact real-world interventions that are proliferating in public policy, particularly in the UK.

[h=3]Public significance statement[/h]Our meta-analysis of 15 experiments involving 2035 participants shows that photographs and/or stylized images of eyes reduced antisocial behaviour by 35%. Our findings support public policy initiatives employing pictures of ‘watching eyes’ to reduce crime. Furthermore, in an age when we are watched more than at any time in modern history – both online and on the street – our findings highlight an urgent need to fully understand the effect that perceived surveillance, feeling watched, has on our decisions and actions."

The surprise is that even a symbolic picture of an eye has that effect.
 
That's why we will have cameras everywhere in the future.
 
Did you need to do a study for this? Many studies??? :)
Yes. I don't think it's at all obvious that false eyes would deter crime nearly twice as well as cameras.

"Hey I'm gonna knock over that liqueur store"
"Watch out mate, there's cameras"
"Yeah but no eyes painted on the walls, easy prey"
?
 
I have an Ajax security system installed in my house. The outdoor cameras are connected to that. They can be easily recognized near a front door and in a backyard. Once I saw strange guys came and saw that camera, after that they suddenly turned around and ran away. That was a little funny, but that case demonstrates how cameras influenced the potential robbers' behavior. Honestly, I do not like the idea of having cameras everywhere. I have recently read that the Russian government recognizes people on the street with the help of such cameras. Isn't it weird? The big brother is following us...
 

The surprise is that even a symbolic picture of an eye has that effect.

It's not the first study on this. I read about it before. I think it was in You Are No So Smart, by David McRaney, a book that is almost 10 years old.
 
Knowing you are being watched just makes you craftier, and careful. Like you lived under some sort of Police State or under the KGB. I grew up in a suburb when people knew their neighbors, I learnt as a child that even if I was quite a few km from home or my community, my mother would know where I was and with whom I was talking to, and would quiz me when I got home. "Who was that girl?" "How do you know her?" It went on and on. I learnt how to be very careful and crafty.
 
Knowing you are being watched just makes you craftier, and careful. Like you lived under some sort of Police State or under the KGB. I grew up in a suburb when people knew their neighbors, I learnt as a child that even if I was quite a few km from home or my community, my mother would know where I was and with whom I was talking to, and would quiz me when I got home. "Who was that girl?" "How do you know her?" It went on and on. I learnt how to be very careful and crafty.
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I think that's true to a certain extent, but it can't be denied that in totalitarian states of whatever persuasion, the streets are "safe" at night.

Also, at the rate at which the Communist Chinese are using technology including facial recognition software on streets and in buildings, complete monitoring of phone calls, computer sites, travel and even the use of small drones, I doubt much of what they would consider "anti-government" activity of any kind will escape them.
 

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