November 28, 2018
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Seeing images of superheroes makes people more likely to help others in real life
Watching superhero movies just might help you become a better person.
A new study has found that exposure to superhero imagery, even in subtle forms, can inspire people to help others and engage in pro-social activities. While the imagery wasn’t enough to reshape participants’ perception of their own purpose, the researchers found it did boost their helping intentions, which in turn caused some to feel their lives had more meaning.
Dr Jeffrey Green of the Virginia Commonwealth University says: ‘Given that superheroes are an increasingly large and accessible part of our cultures, even if merely symbolically, we were interested in exploring their role in inspiring virtuous and meaningful lives. Heroes come in many shapes and forms. Some are fictional and others are real-life role models. We decided to study the effect of well-known fictional heroes, such as Superman or Spiderman, as people may tend to be more motivated to emulate behaviors where there is a little realism.’
More than 200 participants in the study were exposed to common household images which either contained superheroes or neutral objects, such as a bicycle. Those who were primed with the superhero imagery reported they were more likely to partake in prosocial behaviors.
In a second experiment, participants were invited to actually help with a tedious experiment, rather than simply report their intentions. And, the team found those who had been primed with a Superman poster were much more likely to help than those exposed to neutral imagery.
‘These experiments highlight how even the subtle activation of heroic constructs through visual images of superheroes may influence intentions to help as well as actual helping behaviour,’ Green says.
In the future, the team says it would be useful to explore the effects of real-life heroic figures as well, instead of just fictional superheroes.
Different types of media, including talking or writing about a hero, may also influence a person’s prosocial inclinations.
Green says: ‘Heroes loom large as exemplars of morality. They often embody virtues that we wish to express in our lives. If subtle images of heroes trigger such positive behaviors, their inspirational role may well have the potential to extend beyond the prosocial behaviors explored in this study.’
Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk
