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I like that they didn't try to make it some subliminal superhero tie-in and instead proposed the more plausible mechanism of increasing attention to surroundings in the presence of something unusual.
in German we had some years ago the saying: "Sei Du selbst, es sei denn, Du kannst Batman sein, dann sei Batman" - 'Be yourself, except if you can be Batman, then be Batman'
I’ve noticed a similar effect when it snows here in london. It’s unusual and it’s like a common adversary to everyone and everyone becomes more chatty on public transport
> We conducted 138 observation sessions (61 experimental condition, 77 control condition). In the control condition, the chances that a passenger would leave their spot were 37.66%, while when Batman was there, the chances increased to 67.21%. imaginary character bumps up the chances of helping others - who could have guessed we are such fine species?
Does this mean religion can be good for the third of the population that needs an imaginary character to be good?
Heard this from an Indian friend, and not sure how much of this true - Indian cities used to have problem of folks chewing tobacco and spitting everywhere, so in some places they would have an icon of a Hindu god, and it worked (maybe not with non-hindu).
Brain-rot caused by US cultural dominance, not surprising that this took place in Northern Italy (try this Southwards of Rome, see how it goes), could as well have been the former West Germany, the Nordic countries, Benelux and even France (not to mention the UK). Americanization is a hell of a drug.
To untangle the variables (Batman being associated with morality), they should test it again with the Joker.
Is it just about pushing people out of autopilot? When commuting in particularly people are just in their own world. I’ve noticed a similar effect when it snows here in london. It’s unusual and it’s like a common adversary to everyone and everyone becomes more chatty on public transport
"Interestingly, while the data suggest that this perturbation may have a strong effect, a notable percentage of individuals were not consciously aware of the reason behind it. Given that attention is socially influenced (e.g., the phenomenon where people instinctively look toward the same point of interest as those around them), we can hypothesize that the pattern of awareness triggered by a disruption in routine may be socially transmitted, extending beyond its original cause. This may also help account for the subset of participants who reported not noticing Batman but nevertheless offered their seat. A speculative interpretation is that the disruptive effect can operate at an interpersonal level: shifts in attention or prosocial cues triggered in some individuals may spread socially within the group, influencing behavior even among those not directly aware of the initial disruption, consistently with research on the social contagion and interpersonal synchrony of prosocial and emotional behaviors."