What effect does an audience have on our behaviour? Do we behave the same as we always have, or do we make an effort to do what we think we are supposed to?
Click start to play today’s Word Search, where you can spot the word ‘audience’ in a circus themed puzzle.
Over the past century, several studies have attempted to gain a better understanding of the audience effect, which is when people change their behaviour because they believe someone else is watching them. After all, it’s why security cameras and CCTV surveillance work to reduce antisocial behaviour. But the audience effect doesn’t just apply to humans.
According to a July 2013 report in the National Geographic, mammals, birds and even fish have been known to be influenced by others. For instance, juvenile male brown-headed cowbirds decrease their singing when adult males are in the area, although they readily sing to other juvenile males, and to females. They adjust their singing to avoid possible aggression from adult male cowbirds, which are usually more dominant.
And a July 2013 study published in the UK-based journal Biology Letters found insects, specifically crickets, changing their behaviour when they had an audience.
In experiments cited in the study, researchers placed male crickets in a small arena and created a glass-separated viewing area adjacent to it. They found that each time there was an audience of other male and female crickets, the male crickets fought more aggressively and even put on grandiose victory dances. Their exaggerated form of aggression was a way to signal their dominance to other males, and to find a potential mate from among the females, who are apparently attracted to macho behaviour.
The experiment broke new ground in the study of insects, proving that these tiny creatures, too, can learn, have a capacity for memory, and can adapt their behaviour based on their surroundings.
Are you surprised by the experiment? Play today’s Word Search and let us know at games@gulfnews.com.