this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2026
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Applied Psychology
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isnt it just thay you're more likely to notice someone dressed up, and the people around them whilst staring at your phone, instead of never looking up because the pregnant woman has normal trousers
What an interesting potential explanation! Guess you'll have to go out and test to find out. You could also choose less bombastic moral characters to test if the moral judgement angle is also true (like a priest with his tab removed)
Pretty sure that was the hypothosis the experimenters came to. Suddenly seeing batman out of the corner of your eye is way more jarring that it forces you to focus more on your surrondings.
Yes, but someone baselessly speculating is different than researchers conclusions, yes? And my response leads to deeper thinking about the possible explanations than thought terminating assumptions, no?
Also, no, subjects were more likely to offer their seat even if they didn't see batman, meaning it was seeing the change in others brought by the shocking individual that made others more cognizant of their surroundings, rather than needing to directly see the shocking stimulus. See? By trying to make their assumption fit the outcome, you missed information that was in the paper that disagreed with you. That's why curiosity is more valuable than needing to be right.
You seem very needlessly hostile to me. Is there a reason you're being a dick? Have I offended you in some way?
All I did was confirm that the scientists think batman appearing got people to focus more on their surroundings.
Can you not just correct someone without being passive-aggressive about it?
You just brought huge value to the thread and I've learned a lot about the study that I never would have gotten from the caption alone and I'm grateful to your insight about it. It's something that I otherwise wouldn't have pursued deeper due to limited interest, so why do you have to be so nasty about it?
Comrade, I have ASD and while I'm aware I'm perceived that way, it's either talk like this sometimes or never say anything ever again. I am constantly putting effort into not looking like a condescending ass, so think of how far I have to edit this shit before it comes out of my mouth in order for me to come off as slightly high and mighty.
It's honestly borderline crippling and I have literally driven myself mad over my inability to be understood before.
I'm a very jovial person and that comes across in my off-screen interpersonal interactions, but I can't get that to come across in the wild west of internet comments.
But yeah, I'm working on it. Sorry about the assholeishness
well, alright, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt -- I get that tone is hard to convey properly over the internet. Have a good day!
Thanks! You as well!
I think an easier experiment would be the same pregnant woman, but alone and she's wearing more eye catching trousers + shoes
(Easier in the sense that I don't have to do anything...)
Yes. This would be important to differentiate between the associations with the Batman character and an eye catching abnormality.
It would also be interesting to see what the impact of the Joker would be. If the Joker would also elicit greater propensity to offer the seat to the pregnant woman, once could claim that Joker, being the antithesis to Batman, similarly leads one to think of the imperative to offer the pregnant woman the seat.
Finally, another important variation would be another eye catching character specific to this experiment rather than one belonging to a fictional franchise.
This would allow one to more clearly differentiate the impact between the control (just the pregnant woman) with the introduction of eye catching costumes and with the pregnant woman wearing something eye catching herself.
Another important experimental design consideration would be to avoid repeat passengers between the multiple trials.
What? Why with the tab removed...? And also, wouldn't that just be someone in a black robe?