Who knew? Apparently would-be thieves have a soft spot for baby photos. A research study conducted in Edinburgh found that lost wallets containing baby photos were returned nine out of ten times.
Hundreds of wallets were planted on the streets of Edinburgh by psychologists last year. Perhaps surprisingly, nearly half of the 240 wallets were posted back. But there was a twist.
Richard Wiseman, a psychologist, and his team inserted one of four photographs behind a clear plastic window inside, showing either a smiling baby, a cute puppy, a happy family or a contented elderly couple. Some wallets had no image and some had charity papers inside.
When faced with the photograph of the baby people were far more likely to send the wallet back, the study found. In fact, only one in ten were hard-hearted enough not to do so. With no picture to tug at the emotions, just one in seven were sent back.
According to Dr Wiseman the result reflects a compassionate instinct towards vulnerable infants that people have evolved to ensure the survival of future generations. “The baby kicked off a caring feeling in people, which is not surprising from an evolutionary perspective,” he said.
This begs the question: If it works with wallets, will it also work for gadgets? Perhaps an adorable baby as the background on your cell phone and laptop might significantly up your chances of getting those devices back should they become lost or stolen.
And finally, some suggestions of photos to NOT have on your gadgets:
- You leaning against an Audi, eating lobster and wearing silver pants and a T-shirt that says “Enron-AIG Spring Fling 1998!”
- A stack of $100 bills with a caption that says “Plenty more where that came from — In my wallet, which is made from unicorn hair.”
- This photo
Want to keep your wallet? Carry a baby picture [Timesonline.co.uk via Consumerist]
You know, I think I’ll put a picture of a baby as my iPhone’s background.
why wouldn’t it work,especially if the baby is adorable. Now it’s time to change my iphone background to a picture of my niece http://ziggytek.com/
The baby in that photo is a little creepy.
Creepy? This baby is too cute for words! :)
The smile on its face is too out of place with its age and what its holding. The baby is sorta cute, I suppose, empirically speaking.
cute baby, you’re wrong!
The Flickr link takes me to Consumerist. Linking mistake?
Yes indeed. Fixed. Thanks for the heads up.
That’s an interesting study. As for “If it works with wallets, will it also work for gadgets? “, I don’t think it would hurt to try.
OK, I am posting baby photos all over my clothes, electronics and bags
You can always find the most interesting things to blog about. I wonder how many of the wallets with photos of contented elderly couples they got back? Or for that matter,i wonder how many of the happy family photos were returned?
This sounds like a really interesting study. Thanks as always for sharing all of the good stuff. Have a wonderfjul day.
Steve
Hate to put a damper on this, but all those people who picked up the wallet are not necessarily thieves, and maybe just ordinary folks who decided to go the extra mile to return someone’s wallet after seeing the cute baby pics. It makes them less lazy to do the good Samaritan thing..but there’s no proof this would deter real thieves and professional crooks. How much money was inside? Also, was there a survey done asking the people who returned the wallets if they are employed/unemployed, rich, or needy, etc. Would help clear up some questions…