Why you need to carry a baby picture in your wallet

Sunday Telegraph:

Researchers left 240 wallets on the streets of Edinburgh last year 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.

Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist who supervised the experiment, said 42 per cent of the wallets were posted back in total.

Those containing the picture of the infant were most likely to trigger an honest reaction from the finder, with 88 per cent being returned, followed by those containing pictures of the puppy at 53 per cent.

Of those featuring the family snapshot, 48 per cent were sent to the return address and only 28 per cent of those with the picture of the elderly couple.

Wallets containing the charity cards and the control sample were least likely to be returned, with rates of 20 and 15 per cent respectively.

...

I think the logic is that people who can afford charity, don't need the wallet back and those with a baby need all they can get. So save the charitable donation slip in your income tax files and find a baby picture. I wonder how they would react to an ultrasound photo?