I've been in convenience stores before where life-size cardboard cut-outs of cops glare at me from a corner. Of course, the hope is that you'll be less likely to steal, even though the fuzz is fake. A research team from Newcastle University recently showed that people are more honest when they're being watched even if the eyes aren't real. The scientists compared how much money people dropped in an "honesty box" when retrieving a drink. Turns out, the deposited three times more cash if there was a poster of a pair of eyes staring them down than an image of flowers.
From the BBC News:
(Lead author of the study Melissa Bateson, a behavioral biologist,) believes this happens because the eyes on the poster may affect people's perception that they are being watched by other people.
"Although it was just a photocopied black and white poster, we know that people's brains are set up to process faces and eyes, and that is probably because it is very important for us to know if we are being watched by other people."
