Quantitative Report:
Instruction :
Structure Funnel shape: Broad to narrow
Aim: Explain why the study is currently relevant, in light of previous work on this topic, and state exactly what you are testing in your study
Start with larger question
Then discuss background literature and its “gaps” and / or “issues”.
Build towards rationale for the current study, more precisely defining question /problem.
End with specific hypothesis, couched in terms of the variables that you manipulated and measured.
You are likely to need to include information on the variables just before this, so that the hypothesis makes sense.
Broad question: Do watching eyes have impact on prosocial behaviour?
Background literature: Theoretical context; What has been found before empirically? Specific studies, overall pattern, larger context if relevant.
Theoretical context :
Evolutionary psychology / Social psychology
Better behaviours in presence of others
Reputation seeking?
Picture of face or eyes may be proxy for presence of others
…”natural selection can be expected to have shaped human psychology to be exquisitely sensitive to cues that are (or were, under ancestral conditions) informative with respect to the likely profitability of cooperation in a given situation.” Hayley & Fessler, 2005, p. 248
This theoretical perspective predicts that an image of eyes may act as a cue for us to be prosocial
Theoretical background: Direct gaze vs. averted gaze :
Debate: Eyes remind you of someone watching no matter what
Vs. eyes have to show a direct gaze for watching eyes effect to occur
Manesi et al. (2016): “… eyes gazing at an individual, rather than any proxy to social presence (e.g., just the eyes), serve as a reminder of reputation. …it is ‘‘eyes that pay attention’’ that can lift the veil of anonymity and potentially facilitate prosocial behavior.” (p. 1)
Conti et al (2016): Direct gaze triggers self-referential processing, which is key to the watching eyes effect
