2023-06-21 01:32:27
People’s behavior changes when they feel observed. Photo: Pixabay
Imagine that we are walking down the calle and we found a paper in it pocket. We want to throw it away, but we don’t see none trash can nearby. What do we do? Shall we do it again keep Or do we throw it to the ground? Many times this decision it depends if someone is watching us.
He behavior human is very complex. Most of the behaviors that we show keep relationship with the social life. One of the issues What is striking is the fact that we tend to behave ourselves better when we feel observed For other people. Although, to be honest, it’s not exactlyand so
The truth is we tend to behave according to how the personas Those who observe us believe that we must behave. Or rather, we do it in function Of how we think we that the personas That in observe they think that we must behave.
Seems like a tongue twister but it’s not. This freakknown as the “look effect”, is the subject of many research in the field of neurosciencethe psychology and sociology.
Importance of gaze in society
almost from the birthpeople learn to recognize and respond to social cuesand the gaze plays a papel crucial in this process.
A few days after birth, babies are already show the unconscious impulse to look at the gaze of others personasespecially their caregivers, to begin to establish the bond what sustains the bases of the socialization.
through the gaze we transmit our emotional state. And through this instinct babies learn how should they respond to emotional lookss of other people and how others respondents to theirs.
The facial expression also communicates the emotional state, but constitutes the marco that nuances the emotional transmission through the looks.
The visual comunication is a basic way of social interaction and can effectively convey information emotional and social, which stimulates attention and surveillance. What, by rebound, influences our behavior.
Effect of social pressure
One of the mechanisms that contribute to look effect is the sensation of surveillance and the social pressure what we perceive when we feel that others look at us.
Know that we are being observed activates the attentional systems of our brainboth the automated ones, which are in the thalamusLike the reflective from prefrontal cortex.
The thalamus is the brain structure which is activated when a external event o one thought turn out to be enough relevant how to need of our attention, which determines the threshold of consciousness.
And, from this activation preconscious, the prefrontal cortex manages the mindfulness and voluntary. This increases our self-awareness and makes us more aware of our Actions. And, at the same time, it helps us to anticipate their consequencesespecially in the plano social.
This additional awareness favors a self-regulation stricter than our behaviora inhibition of what we would like to do or of our impulsesfor avoid the disapproval of our environment or possible negative consequences derived from a behavior inappropriate.
Therefore, it is not that when we feel observed let’s have the trend to behave better, but to do what we suppose the personas who observe us are waiting what let’s do.
Eyes to follow rules?
The influence of the look in our behavior is demonstrated in a series of rigorous experiments. In one of them, for example, a cartel that said “Do not litter”, and the behavior of the people passing through the area.
In some occasionsnext to the sign was placed an image of some eyes and in others, only the text. The results showed that, when the eyes were present, it was reduced significantly the number of people who threw papers or other objects to the ground, compared to situations in which the eyes were not present.
In another study, they used cameras of simulated surveillance in a coffee shop. The researchers found that when the customers they thought they were being engravingsthey were more likely to clean their tables after using them, compared to those who did not perceived the presence of cameras.
What is the ‘gaze effect’?
There are different hypothesis who try to explain the effect of the look in our behavior. They are not exclusive hypotheses, but complementary.
On the one hand, there are hypotheses that focus on the importance of the control socialespecially in one species, humans, in which social life is directly linked to the survival.
These hypotheses suggest than to feel observed, or simply the presence of some eyesreminds us of standards social and the expectations of behavior that are attributed to us. When we feel observed, we are more prone to internalize these norms Act agree with them.
For this reason, there teenagers able to perform the actions risky the sin sense simply because think that this is what you expect social environmentlos other teenagers.
The other group of hypotheses are based on the self-regulation. They suggest that the gaze of others works as a stimulus that helps us to monitor better our behavior, and therefore to regulate it with more efficiency.
When we feel observed, we we self-assess and adjust our behavior to maintain a positive image of us themselves, also before our around.
Effect of gaze on society
It is important stand out that the effect of the look can vary in different social contexts. In situations where social norms are clear and behavior is expected appropriatethe presence of looks can reinforce these expectations and lead to greater compliance.
However, in contexts where norms are ambiguous or there is a social tolerance toward behaviors not standardizedthe look effect may be less pronounced.
of course, also it depends of each person, especially their level of self-confidence. People who are more self-confident tend to see themselves less affected by the effect of the gaze.
Insecure people, who doubt their actions or aptitudessuccumb much more easily to the looks of the other people.
In conclusion, the effect of look it’s a psychological phenomenon GOOD documented that shows how the human behavior could be molded and altered by the presence of other people.
The sense of surveillance and the social pressure that we experience when being observed leads us to behave more appropriately to what we suppose is expected of us, through mechanisms of control social and of self-regulation.
*This article was published on The Conversation and reproduced here under the Creative Commons license. Click on this link to read the original version.
*David Bueno i Torrens is a professor and researcher in the Biomedical, Evolutionary and Developmental Genetics Section. Director of the Chair of Neuroeducation UB-EDU1st, University of Barcelona.
In other news
Visit our portals:
#behave