Mere perceived surveillance, without reward or punishment, motivates prosocial behavior

Evidence

It is remarkable that in these experimental findings, people are merely exposed to eyes. There is no promise of reward, no threat of punishment. Just knowing that we are under surveillance is enough to motivate us to put our best foot forward. Thomas Jefferson was on to something when he said, “Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.” — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 91

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s core mechanism claim: Rodrigues’ behavior is shaped by perceived omniscient observation independent of material incentives — this passage states the mechanism in its purest form.
• CANDY: The Jefferson quote distilled with the finding is a clean, tweetable one-liner about surveillance psychology.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 91