The feeling of being watched makes people act more honestly, even if the eyes are not real, a study suggests. A Newcastle University team monitored how much money people put in a canteen “honesty box” when buying a drink. They found people put nearly three times as much in when a poster of a pair of eyes was put above the box than when the poster showed flowers.

Processing faces

Dr Melissa Bateson, a behavioural biologist from Newcastle University and the lead author of the study, said: “We found that people paid 2.76 times as much money when we put a notice on the wall that featured a pair of eyes as opposed to when the image was of some flowers.”

What an interesting concept! What is it about eyes that intrigues us? It isn’t just human eyes, either. Many whale hunters reported feeling sad or melancholy after seeing the eyes of their prey look back at them.

We think of the eyes as the windows to the soul, whatever that is. Maybe our eyes are the windows to our conscience. Certainly they are a window into our emotions.

I look forward to hearing more about this fascinating subject in the months and years to come.