It turns out that the mere presence of a guy dressed as Batman is enough to turn dead inside commuters into momentary altruists.

Folks, we have some revolutionary sociological research to share with you today.

After making a guy dressed as Batman stand around in a subway car, a team of researchers found that the behavior of people around him suddenly improved the moment he showed up. No longer was everyone completely self-involved; with the presence of a superhero, commuters started helping each other more than they would’ve without him around.

Behold: the “Batman effect.”

  • I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world
    10·
    2 days ago

    I can’t find it now, but there was an experiment where people were given a skill game to try and let alone in a (recorded) room, then self reported their score.

    When the experimenter casually mentioned that this rocking chair over here was his late grandmother’s, he was just keeping it there until he could move it to his home, because he felt her presence in it, nobody lied about their score.

    So, Batman and granny ghosts.