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 Study participants were shown either a scrawny or buffed-up version of these comic book characters.
September 17th, 2012
01:19 PM ET
Bonding with Batman could make you strongerIt was hard to keep track of all the superheroes hitting the big screen this summer: Batman in "The Dark Knight Rises." Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America and Thor in "The Avengers." Peter Parker in "The Amazing Spider-Man." And each character seemed to have bulked up for their latest comeback. "Over the last few decades, superheroes' bodies have become extremely muscular with body dimensions that are impossible for most men to attain," write the authors of a new study that analyzes the effects of superheroes on male body image. Past research has shown that seeing muscular figures can make men feel badly about their own bodies, similar to the way seeing stick-thin supermodels can make women question their weight. But the same effect may not hold true for our favorite comic book characters. The study, published this week in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, suggests watching superheroes can actually increase males' self esteem - and might make mere mortals stronger. The study Researchers with the University at Buffalo asked 98 undergraduate males to rate how much they liked and/or were familiar with Batman or Spider-Man on a scale of 1 to 5. Participants who scored a 4 or higher were said to have a "parasocial" relationship with the superhero - i.e. a one-sided psychological bond. Those who rated less than 2.5 were put into a control group. All participants were then shown a photo of either a scrawny or buff-looking Batman/Spider-Man. They were given one minute to look at the photo and then asked to rate their mood, self-esteem and body esteem (how they perceive their muscular strength, biceps, etc.) The undergrads were then tested with a hand-held dynamometer to assess their physical strength. The results Participants who had a strong parasocial bond and were shown a muscular superhero photo recorded higher body esteem than those who didn't have a bond with the character. On the flip side, participants who weren't familiar with the character who were shown a muscular photo experienced a lower body esteem than participants who were shown a scrawny superhero. More surprising were the strength test results. The undergrads with a parasocial bond who were shown a muscular superhero were stronger than those in the control group and stronger than those with a parasocial bond who were shown a non-muscular photo. The takeaway "The thing that I find most interesting ... is the idea that these media figures have real psychological effects on the self," says study author Ariana Young, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University at Buffalo. "It’s not just mind-numbing entertainment. The bonds that we form –- and we do form real bonds - they affect how we feel about ourselves. And it’s not always in a bad way." Young is planning another superhero study this semester where she'll analyze the effects of the characters on acts of heroism, or helpful behavior.
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I think it's an interesting story, but after graduation how are these researchers ever ever gonna find a job to payback that student loan? Not much demand out there for this type of work....Maybe MacDonald's
The ability to collect and analyze any type of data set is a very useful skill... far greater then all those with their mass com or art degrees.
They have a job. They're researchers.
They probably could get a job at McDonalds, but it wouldn't be flipping burgers. More likely, it would be researching new ways to manipulate you in to eating more Big Macs.
Are you trying to be funny using the tired MacDonald's reference, the standard cliche of all low-level jobs implying these researchers aren't very smart? How does this topic or the scientists conducting this research have anything to with low-level qualifications for working at MacDonald's? Because, obviously, these researchers are smart. Although this research may seem silly to you and something you wouldn't waste you time on because you usually don't considered intellectual matters, why denigrate those who do?
Look at the time! Looks like you're going to punch in late again, and you know what the shift manager will say. See, that's how you use your lame reference in an ironic way. You learn something every day.
My firm has an entire office based on data and research. They do well.
BTW, I was a comic book nerd, got an Art Degree and now I'm one of the 1%!
Work hard, don't stop being creative in anything you do.
@yaya – I have that art degree, and am happily employed in my field providing well for a family of 5. Your metaphor is as outdated as the McDonald's one.
Data Analysis, Business Analysis and Business Intelligence careers are one of the fastest growing, well paying careers in the country. With all the technology companies have and how much data they collect about their processes, products and their customers, people (like myself) get paid very well to analyze and interpret it.
It shouldn't be too hard for them to find work. You found a job in Portland where you don't have to spell "McDonald's" correctly!
You don't think the military is interested in getting stronger soldiers on an investment of GI Joe comic books?
The researchers have jobs in their field. They are academic researchers, which is why the published the paper reported on in the article. They have already graduated, gotten their Bachelors degree and are working on a Masters or a PHD.
BINGO.....total waste of my time
Stephen, the research assistants are probably the grad students you describe. The researchers most likely already have their PhDs or other terminal degrees and are employed by the university as professors, researchers, or both. In this case they would be salaried employees for the University of Buffalo earning somewhere around the 100k per year mark.
Just reading that article makes me feel stronger.. I'm going to break my desk in half right now! Peace out.
YEAH BABY!!! I KNOW HOW IT FEELS WHEN YOU READ "HULK SMASH!!!"
Awesome!
Feelsbadman when you envision The Flash when bedding a female.
Unfortunately too much bonding (i.e. reading too much comic books or watching too many movies or playing too many games related to these superheroes) only makes our kids fat and lazy.
So my suggestion to parents is for each half hour of comic books (or movies etc) make them play outside one hour and study 2 hours.
Can you cite a study that supports your claims? I've found the average avid comic reader to be anything but lazy.
I also disagree. When i was a kid after I saw a Batman catrtoon or watched a superhero movie i wanted to go outside with my brother or friend and play. We would run around and pretend we were fighting crime. It was awesome. We got plenty of exercise and the caped crusader helped us.
So being interested in a character and knowing a thing or two about them makes you fat? Is this some sort of veiled implication that intellectuals who have the wherewithal to study a subject are somehow not worthy of your consideration or inclusion in your ideal society? Your fascism is showing, sir.
Yes, and please explain how studying is some how more physically challenging than reading a comic (or any) book.
@matthewx, the books are heavier (sometimes, I have some pretty heavy hard bound comic collections, and overall a box of comics can be pretty heavy).
Forcing kids to be on strict schedules like that kills their childhood. I pity your children if you have them. If you want them to do their homework at a certain time, then make them, but don't go into all of this micromanaging crap where "for every hour that you do this, you'll do THIS." Makes everyday life seem like a punishment and takes away any sense of spontaneity.
Tony, you need to think a bit harder about what this could mean for marketing. You don't think there is a HUGE demand for companies to be able to psychologically influence you to buy their products?
Best Batman as of yet is still Adam West. No fake chests or over drawn exageration. His suit was all West all the time.
Yeah, with half the thespian abilities of William Shatner. By the middle of the third season he needed a heavier duty girdle than Shatner did on Star Trek (TOS). Of course, he was still better than either Val Kilmer or George Clooney!
> similar to the way seeing stick-thin supermodels can make women question their weight.
I think most people looking at comics realize they're completely unreal, unlike the photos on fashion magazines.
I think the skinny versions of Batman and Spiderman look better. Batman looks like Adam West and Spidey look like a science nerd teenager
Men who feel bad about their own body after looking at a cartoon of a muscle man, are not men; they are weak minded idiots.
Also Batman looks proper with muscles, Spider-Man does not.
I've been drawing both since I was a little kid, I know these things...
Read about the original drawings for Spider-Man. Stan Lee envisioned him as a scrawny high-school kid – the kind that kept getting sand kicked in his face. Jack Kirby kept making him too muscular (ala Captain America). That was why Steve Ditko was called in. He got the "skinny kid" look down pat that served for all 50 years of his publishing history.
Precisely.
Spider-man IS scrawny; he makes it up with his super powers. Batman is a buff mofo because he has to rely on his normal human body for the most part.
But if Superman has all those powers he won't need big muscles.
10 yrs ago and beyond comics were mostly geared towards young male readers. Today's movies have made them change some in order to sell to mass audiences, including girls. You have to have buff good looking men to attract women. That's the only reason for all the eye candy super heroes, story doesn't matter as much, why do you think 3 straight spider man movies were all the same love story? because it made spider man a sex symbol to the young ladies, and ticket sales went up.
Low number statistics says "hi".
Well, yes...but only the image on the right of Batman is an accurate reflection of his physicality, while Peter Parker, AKA your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, should be represented by the more svelte and scrawny representation on the left of the two Spider-Men. As everyone knows, Peter Parker is a young high school boy who is representative of his peers, vis a vis his size and insecurities. Now, buy or leave. This isn't a library.
To call this article useless would be an insult to truly useless articles.
Batroids and Spideroids are bad kids.
You're catching on to this trend a little late. You didn't even include any Liefeld art.
Those were totally deformed, and anatomically incorrect.
Rob Liefeld is to comics what Rob Schnieder is to comedy. Nice guys, but neither should be allowed near their respective "art" fields.
Are you trying to say that science has now proven that liking Batman makes you physically stronger?
Finally. My insanity has been validated.
That would depend on whether you like them, or whether you "LIKE" them.
And yet another reason to save City of Heroes! #savecoh
What would be the result of looking at images of Christ ? If ever there was a superhero it was He.
What would be the result of meditating on a crucifix? What if one saw a picture of Jesus performing a miracle? Would one with a "parasocial bond" with Jesus feel more powerful?
Would looking at a statue of Buddha meditating put one in a calmer state?
Maybe there is a place for religious iconography after all. The 10 commandments forbid "graven images" because man can be tempted to worship the creature rather than the creator.
Someone should try this study using religious images.
I worship bananas. They've never let me down.
So, Jesus was a comic book character, good to hear that.
But seriously, the point of this experiment was to say that iconic images have effects on a person's mood and mental state depending on the subject's bond with the character. So yes, religious iconography would have a similar effect on people who believe in the subjects of the icon in question. It also means that while you may experience love and some sort of holiness looking at a cross because of your experience, I can look at it and see a graphic representation of human sacrifice that I find disturbing and since I have learned everything I can about the character depicted and have decided that I can have no bond with it that makes me feel good, then maybe it would be best if others simply don't try to force it on me.
I won't make you read Batman comics no matter how good I think they are as long as you clam up about your poorly written bronze age myths.
Wow. Someone says religion and suddenly it's being crammed down a passive reader's throat. Militant atheists are soooooo predictable.
Who cares? If people want to set unrealistic goals for themselves and always end up being failures, that's their problem.
Bonding with a fictional super hero is infantile. Like the women say, "So many boys and so few men".
Yes, because every comic I've ever read was strictly for children.
I don't know if you have noticed but comics are a form of art and literature and you show how infantile you can be when you trivialize them.
BALONEY! This doesn't prove a 1:1 correlation between a person's parasocial connection to a super hero and his body image or strength. In more general terms, you are better off assuming that those people who generally pay attention to superheroes tend to also want to be more heroic themselves. A desire to be like or having admiration for heroism in general is more likely to make you blast out that extra push up when considering your own responsibility for protecting those you love – such as your family.
BAN KAI -!!!!!
Ichigo is way better than spiderman.
Ichigo is a tank, Spidey doesn't tank, he dodges
Well, this article make sense to me. I mean Hollywood has seemed to know that fact especially since there have been so many real life super hero movies like KickA$$, Super, Griff the Invisible, Defendor, etc.
Spiderman is supposed to be scrawny. That's the whole point of his nerdy kid persona.
Spiderman is scrawnier, but is actually stronger than Batman. He has the proportional strength of a spider, which I've read means he can lift over 10 tons, some say it can be up to 25 tons now.
This study gives pseudo-science a bad name.
Just go to my gym and you'll see that a large percentage of the young men (and even middle-aged men) prove the conclusions in this article. Why else assume the risks that come with roids?
A simple explanation may be that Batman and Spiderman are masked characters, and that men are able to project themselves into the mask and feel empowered. I wonder if the scientists would get similar results with Superman, Aquaman or the Hulk.
Pretty sure bonding with Batman in Aurora, CO made those people stronger. You know, just weeks after the government said a theater attack was going to happen. You can read the PDF at DHS dot gov where they talk about it.
I wonder if there are similar effects on other traits. Does it work for mental traits like risk taking, or morality, or things like that? How would an interactive character rather than a static image effect the outcome? For instance, would you get more effect from playing Batman Arkham Asylum than you would watching a Batman movie? And does a more realistic image have any effect – like would the Batman movies have more or less effect than the animated Batman?
Lots of fascinating avenues of study from this.
You don't have to be EXTREMELY muscular. It's not like you are Superman who have ALWAYS been muscular, or Thor as well. Transformed hulk is 3D graphic design, not a real body. So you don't need to be too muscular to make movies as male. Toby Mcguire was not huge. Neither is Christian Bale.
But Superman, Thor, and Hulk(obviously), have always been huge.
If you read comic books for realistic depictions of the human body, either sex, you're looking in the wrong place.
THis is why He-man is the GREATEST!!!! First
1)his name is He-Man,cant get any more masculine then that!!
2)he's HUGE!!!!!!!!
3)He has a sword!!!!!
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is THE BEST!!! It's been scinetifially proven!!!!
So guys who affiliated with these superheroes liked them drawn more bulked up, and these guys actually turned out to be stronger than guys who didn't affiliate. You're suggesting they got stronger because of liking superheroes. But it could have worked the other way, you know. The guys felt affiliated to the superguys and liked them bulky because the GUYS THEMSELVES were already strong and bulky. We tend to like people whom we perceive as similar to ourselves
i understand this study,
it affects both the psychology and physicality of a human,
take my children for example, 6 and 1 they both love Batman and spider man, my 1 yr old second word was Batman, the truth USA they have bonded on a psychological level, they admire the heros
thus they admire strength and heroism and my six year old constantly wants to use my pull up bar, or do push UPS, he wants to wrestle to be stronger and he lives helping others, when mean kids pick on others he steps in...
my one year old is daring and bold, he takes risks and is confident in his strength...
parenting has some to do with it, but i'm sure admiring and surrounding themselves with these idols has conditioned their mind and bodies...
i'm not buff, i'm thing and slender, but i associate with spider man and Batman, i'm scrawny but strong and it doors make me feel good seeing these characters perform amazing feats, it gives me confidence in myself that i can do so if i too condition my body with a proper diet and exercise
Speaking of Batman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQMQ9BMu8yk
Always be yourself.
Unless you can be Batman. And then, always be Batman.
Funnily enough, Spidey is SUPPOSED to be scrawny. That's part of his shtick – he's the 98-pound weakling who's secretly able to bench-press a Buick.
This is cool but conducting one study on 98 is not enough research imho.
But if they were comparing anatomically impossible female superheroes they would be going on about how it hurts women's self esteem. Interesting how it is the exact opposite with men. What a crap study.
this is true whenever im at the gym, i picture Vegeta training in 1000x gravity and it pushes me pass my limits
Wow, not only did I enjoy this article, it sorta boosts my self esteem, in a way... I've always loved Spiderman and knowing that he may be a scrawny 100 lbs kid that can lift cars kinda shows me that you don't have to be ripped BAMF to show you have strength, its how you show it...
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98 people does not a conclusion make. No study with that small of a population sample can be taken for anything but preliminary. The testing group is already pre-selected by only choosing undergrads at a university, which is already a small percentage of the population at large, and definitely not a cross-sampling. When they grab a much larger, random sample of various ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, and health conditions-then I will pay attention to their conclusions.
I get so sick of the press reporting on these small studies as if they were somehow definitive.
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