Under watching eyes in news comment sections: effects of audience cue on self-awareness and commenting behaviour

The watching-eye effect proposes that others’ eyes cause people to behave in a prosocial manner. The current study tested this in the context of an online news website, by investigating whether a watching-eye icon influences users’ attention to themselves and expressions of their opinions in a comment section. In an online experiment, participants (N = 741) used an online news website in the presence (vs. absence) of a watching eye as a visual cue for an imagined audience, who reportedly presented their opinions in a comment section. Results showed that the watching eye did influence participants’ private and public self-awareness and the quality of their comments. Presence of the visual cues, compared to its absence, increased female participants’ self-awareness, specifically when others’ opinions revealed in the comment section were mixed or opposed to the news article topic. This increased private self-awareness was positively associated with the comment quality. These findings indicate the importance of social cues on interfaces in mitigating the negative consequences of anonymity in online environments.