Superman too super a role model

New Scientist (Online) ^ | 11/19/04 | Anna Gosline

[scouse]

Superman too super a role model

17:01 19 November 04

Superman is too good a role model. Fans of the man from Krypton unwittingly compare themselves to the superhero, and realise they do not measure up. And as a result, they are less likely to help other people.

Researchers made the discovery whilst examining how people’s decision-making can be influenced by surreptitiously placed ideas, usually via seemingly unrelated questionnaires or word puzzles. For example, one study has shown that people primed with helpful words were more likely to help a friend pick up spilt pens.

Such effects usually last only up to a couple of weeks, but Leif Nelson at New York University and Michael Norton at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wanted to see if it could last longer.

They asked students to list the characteristics of Superman, or alternatively superheroes in general, as part of a larger questionnaire. Later on, subjects were given the opportunity to volunteer for a fictitious community programme.

Students who thought of Superman volunteered much less of their time than those who thought about other superheroes. Furthermore, Superman-primed subjects were significantly less likely to show up at a meeting for volunteers held three months after they were initially asked to participate.

The reason, believes Nelson, is that asking people to compare themselves to an exceptional individual makes them realise their shortcomings. Whereas thinking about a general category encourages people to identify the strengths they have in common.

Journal reference: Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2004.08.003)

Anna Gosline

[scouse]

The name Stalin translates as "The Man of Steel"; Makes one think :^)).

[maine-iac7]

Super gobbeldy goop

[Pete'sWife]

In other words, "Don't set your goals very high. You are certain to fail."

Or... "Your glass isn't half empty OR half full. It has a hole in the bottom. And we put it there."

[Hodar]

Superman is too good a role model. Fans of the man from Krypton unwittingly compare themselves to the superhero, and realise they do not measure up. And as a result, they are less likely to help other people.

Who can argue with logic as blatantly stupid as this? Hmmm, as a Christain, Jesus is my role model. Now, I dont' begin to measure up in any category as well as Christ would. Forgiveness, patience, devotion, compassion, fortitude .. you name it.

So, I think I'll strap some explosives to my body and take out a kindergarten. No, how about maybe going on a serial killing spree? Killing kittens? Jay-walking? Removing all those tags from my mattresses and furniture?

[TruthWillWin]

These must be the same people that say those that voted for Bush are stupid.

[steplock]

could it be that those who thought of SUPERMAN were more apt to think NOT like a communist/socialist? They were mor inclined to help "those who help themselves" or actually believe in self-responsibility?

Of course, nothing like this would EVER enter the mind of a leftist radical professor.

[nothingnew]

I'm sure glad somebody made this study...now if only people would stop bothering me when I'm changing my clothes in a phone booth...

FMCDH(BITS)

[UnklGene]

[Psycho_Bunny]

Fans of the man from Krypton unwittingly compare themselves to the superhero, and realise they do not measure up. And as a result, they are less likely to help other people.

Really?  Is that why? Or is it possible that the type of person who's a fan of Superman is the type that's just typically less likely to help other people?

How about Goths who read comic books?  Are they likely to be a fan of Superman or Batman?  How about NRA members?  Superman or The Punisher?

What a stupid, stupid, stupid article.

[IrishCatholic]

No, no maybe they have a point. I can see the new comic book now "Slightly above average man". Faster than a power walker. Able to take the express elevator in tall buildings. More powerful than a bowflex user.
Say there is a girl tied to the railroad tracks in liberal land. The girl gets squashed of course, because to get involved exposes our hero to civil liability. But afterwords our hero sues the railroad for allowing access to the tracks and not having appropriate safety warnings on the front of locomotives.
Also, Slightly Above Average Man isn't interested in the girl anyway. He is secretly dating Jimmy Olsen because the repressive corporate entities he works for at the paper might not understand the true nature of the relationship between the thirty five year old above average hero and the young impressionable photographer. They are all homophobes anyway.
Slightly Above Average Man can fight for gay marriage, diversity, government mandated health care, socialism, and the destruction of the economy for the protection of the environment.
Such a comic book would soon become the source of study at major universities by professors using it as a course for credit.
Have standards? Set the bar high? Universal truths? Good triumphs over evil? Strive to achieve? Haven't we given all that up?
HERE COMES SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE MAN! He will save our comfortable sense of mediocrity!