According to researchers, people who find a lost wallet with baby pictures will likely return them to their original owners.
A study which was conducted in Edinburgh, left 240 wallets randomly on the streets to see how many were returned to their owners.
Some of the wallets contained one of four photographs – the baby, a cute puppy, a family and a portrait of an elderly couple. Other wallets contained a card suggesting the owner had recently made a charity donation, while a control batch contained no additional items.
88 per cent of the wallets containing a picture of a baby was returned, followed by those containing pictures of the puppy at 53 per cent.
The wallets featuring the family snapshot, clocked 48 per cent while the wallets with the picture of an elderly couple stood at a paltry 28 per cent return rate.
Wallets containing the charity cards and the control sample were least likely to be returned, with rates of 20 and 15 per cent respectively.
According to Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist who supervised the experiment, “The baby kicked off a caring feeling in people, which is not surprising from an evolutionary perspective.”
This is a surprising but welcome finding from an interesting study. So parents, keep a picture of your little ones in your wallet to remind yourself how much you love them. It might serve useful in the future if you ever lose or misplace your wallet!
