In the 2008 film The Dark Knight, there is a scene in which a would-be criminal decides against committing a crime after he sees the Bat Signal in Gotham City’s dark sky. The man chooses to mind his behavior since Batman could see him. But that’s in the fantastical world of comic book movies. That type of thing can’t happen in real life… right? Well, psychologists in Milan, Italy put this to the test.
In a psychological experiment, researchers from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore found the sudden appearance of Batman caused people to become more altruistic. This mass change of behavior among a group has led Francesco Pagnini, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Università Cattolica, and his team to coin this prosocial behavior the “Batman Effect.”
The experiment was fairly simple. Professor Pagnini had a woman who appeared to be pregnant get onto a train with 138 people, including an observer planted to gauge the reactions of the passengers—would any of them offer their seat to her?
The second part of the experiment had the same scenario, but included a man in a Batman costume getting onto the train from another entrance. The purpose of the experiment was to see if an unexpected event, such as the appearance of a superhero, shook up people’s routines and increased awareness of the present moment.
The results of the experiment were surprisingly like a comic book. Without “Batman,” only 37.66% of the passengers offered their seats to the pregnant woman. However, 67.21% of the passengers offered their seats when an unexpected Dark Knight appeared on their subway train. In other words, Batman’s presence caused roughly twice as many people to kindly offer their seats to the pregnant woman compared to a “normal” ride. Another interesting note was that 44% of the people who offered their seats when the Caped Crusader was on the train reported not having seen anyone in a Batman outfit, suggesting that unexpected events could promote prosocial behavior even in the absence of awareness.
“Our findings are similar to those of previous research linking present-moment awareness (mindfulness) to greater prosociality; this may create a context in which individuals become more attuned to social cues,” said Professor Pagnini in a statement. “This suggests a potential mechanism through which novelty and unpredictability promote prosocial behavior, strengthening theories linking attentional shifts to increased social responsiveness.”
Pagnini didn’t rule out that Batman and what he represents played a significant factor in the experiment’s results (aside from the unexpected nature of a superhero taking the subway with regular passengers).
“It is also possible that the superhero figure enhanced the relevance of cultural values, gender roles, and norms of chivalrous help, consistent with research on the ‘priming’ effect associated with superheroes,” added Pagnini. “The figure of Batman could therefore play a prosocial priming role.”
The result of this experiment has had some psychologists offer methods for people who want to be more altruistic or improve their daily lives. It may not be a picture of Batman, but having a photo of someone you admire or aspire to be like can help motivate you towards goals that reflect who they are or what they’ve accomplished. In terms of the subway experiment, that shows that making a slight change in your routine, such as taking a different route to work or a different place to have coffee, would force your brain off of auto-pilot to take in the differences of life around you.
The result of this experiment shows that a little bit of shake-up of your usual routine could increase your awareness of what and who around you could use your help. This could help you become more of a superhero in real life (costume optional).
