this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2026
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Applied Psychology
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A while ago, I also heard of a study, where they had kids do a task until the kids would give up. And when they let the kids dress up as their favorite superhero, the kids would persevere much longer.
Obviously, the kids being in a better mood can be a factor, but if I remember correctly, it was also a conclusion that the kids persevered, because they thought the superhero would persevere in this situation.
You can probably tell quite well, when their mood falls off a cliff, but they still push on, so could certainly see that being a conclusion...
bollocks, bollocks, BOLLOOOOOOCKS
You're goddamn fucking right
[ cape blows in the wind ]
I wonder how they concluded that it was one over the other, I mean, unless you ask the kids. But that could change their thought process
I mean, I can imagine very well that you can just tell from their emotions.
Like, let's say this was their emotion timeline without superhero costume:
🧍♂️😃🙂😮💨❌
If they'd just generally be in a better mood, the emotion timeline would look like this:
🦸😁😄😃🙂😮💨❌
So, their mood starts higher, but there's the same rate of decline.
Whereas, if they persevere, it's more like this:
🦸😃🙂😮💨😔😑❌
So, similar starting mood as without costume, but the decline is only at the start until they hit the point where they would normally give up.
And then they muster the perseverance to continue, despite being in a bad mood from that point on.
Obviously, you'd need to formalize that, and not every kid will show the same emotions. But when averaged, I do think that gives you a scientific result.