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.”
According to the article it’s not really about the character itself but rather introducing an unusual, offbeat element seems to make groups of people more empathetic.
44% of people who ceded their place to the pregnant woman in the study reported not even noticing the Batman. So this is some kind of subconscious effect on the crowd I guess.
I figured it’d be something along those lines, I was just being cute