There are many environmental factors that affect theour behavior and sometimes we don't even realize it. For instance,
some interesting research has shown that a briefcase instead of one
backpack, on a desk, makes people behave more
competitive. A poster with the image of two eyes watching us makes us
more honest. An image showing a doll causes small children to be
more willing to help adults tidy up. And the list
continue… Now Mark Rubin, researcher at the University of
Newcastle, added a new example relating to what determines on an "unconscious" level
our behavior. His study shows that, pictures of people
together, they not only increase the willingness to offer help but also a
request it. Over a hundred students have indicated theirs
general tendency to seek help or, conversely, to do things alone. In
later they were shown a photo of two people walking hand in hand
hand (a man and a woman or a woman and a child) and they were asked
that they imagine for a moment that they are the woman in the photo that appears at the
left or the child in the photo on the right.
Then a series of questions were asked againto students to check their tendency to offer or ask for help
to complete a semester dossier that (hypothetically) required school.
The result was that the simple detail if the people in the photo held each other
or less by the hand was transcendental. Participants who had seen the photo in which
the two people holding hands were much more willing to search and
offer help with respect to those who saw the other photo. Obviously, the experiment should repeat itself including
a larger sample and in different environments, but the results are nonetheless
interesting since they indicate that the signals as simple as for example
a photo, can encourage pro-social behavior. Without a doubt a
very important result for being a simple photo.
