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The set-up was simple. The subjects (recruited from the Campus Universitaire de Jussieu in Paris) had to read a tale of a minor misdeed \u2013 finding a wallet in the street and keeping the cash, or falsifying a resume \u2013 and then judge how morally wrong it was.<\/p>\n

The twist was that half the subjects had a picture of flowers on their paper, while the other half had a small picture of a pair of eyes peering at them (the same ones as are peering at you right now).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

For both scenarios, the subjects exposed to the eyes were more judgemental. It seems that when we feel we\u2019re being watched, we\u2019re more likely to say that we\u2019re condemning others. Now, this has all sorts of interesting implications not related to religion \u2013 which I\u2019m not going to talk about! You can read the paper if you\u2019re interested (it\u2019s free, and quite short \u2013 link below).<\/p>\n

But from the perspective of this blog, it\u2019s interesting that religious people are also more likely to condemn others. For example, the religious in the USA are more likely to support the death penalty<\/a>. And religious Swiss students were more likely to punish wrongdoers<\/a> after subliminal religious prompting.<\/p>\n

So could it be that the tendency for the religious to be more condemnatory is a by-product of their sense that they are being watched? And if that\u2019s so, what are the implications? <\/p>\n

$\"ResearchBlogging.org\"$ <\/a><\/span>
Bourra P, Baumard N, & McKay R (2011). Surveillance Cues Enhance Moral Condemnation Evolutionary Psychology, 9<\/span> (2), 192-199<\/span><\/p>\n

$\"Creative$ <\/a><\/span> This article by Tom Rees<\/b> was first published on Epiphenom<\/a>. It is licensed under Creative Commons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"