Have you been kicked today? Did a living person sneak onto the bus line? Did someone hit you with their backpack? Or were you denied a greeting in the office? If you answered “yes” to all of the above, don’t feel guilty. No one is immune from suffering from these small grievances every day. But in a context where world powers are threatening each other with new wars, economies large and small are collapsing, the oceans are boiling, and artificial intelligence is sparking a revolution with uncertain consequences, we must urgently ask ourselves: Can we be better?
A new study suggests this is the case. And to the surprise of many, the solution requires a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A dark knight.
In November, a team of psychologists from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan published a somewhat strange research paper. Through a series of field experiments, he found that the presence of a person dressed as Batman on public transportation significantly increased the likelihood that a passenger would give up his or her seat to a pregnant woman. In other words, for researchers, the mere appearance of the Gotham Avenger was enough to make Milan subway users friendlier.
The study, published in npj mental health researchdetails the behavior of passengers on 138 trips. Two scenarios were analyzed. In the first case, a woman pretending to be pregnant got into the car alone and the percentage of passengers who offered her their seats was recorded. In the second case, the same thing happened, but with one noticeable difference: a man dressed as Batman got into the same car through a different door.
Although this hero did not interact with anyone without the Batmobile, the effect of his presence on the passengers was remarkable. 67.21% of travelers offered their seat to the supposed mother-to-be when Batman was present, while only 37.66% did so when he was not.
Is the character Batman responsible for such a leap in friendliness? Could be. He is one of the most popular fictional heroes in the world, the protagonist of thousands of comics and at least ten feature films that have grossed around $7 billion in cinemas worldwide. Unlike other graphic novel characters, his appeal seems to lie in the absence of the “super” prefix: Superman is a good-natured alien born on Krypton, and Spiderman is an ordinary boy bitten by a radioactive spider, but Batman is not a superhero. He is a simple person who can make mistakes. A man of science who knows how to fight. An international tycoon and playboy. I suspect that many men at some point wanted to be like him, despite the devastating childhood trauma he carries with him in each of his incarnations. Quick digression: When I was six years old, I went to my parents’ wedding dressed as Batman. The world seemed like a dangerous place and someone had to protect it. There is nothing more important to a Batman than taking care of his parents.
Let’s go back. What do the experts responsible for the study say? That the change in behavior of the passengers wouldn’t be so much related to Batman himself. The decisive factor would be the sudden appearance of an unusual figure who would be able to switch them off from the “autopilot”. force them to pay attention to their surroundings. In other words, when you’re zombied in front of your phone screen and a hooded person enters the subway, you’re more likely to start noticing what’s happening around you. For example, a pregnant woman who no one gives up her space.
For researchers, unexpected interventions – like that of the Batman of the Milan subway – help raise awareness of the environment. Would it work with another character? It’s hard to know. What is important is that daily life improves at least a little. It doesn’t matter if you need a cat costume, a bat costume or a flare printed in the sky.
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