Document Type
Article
Original Publication Date
2018
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Frontiers in Psychology
Volume
9:2243
First Page
1
Last Page
7
DOI of Original Publication
10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02243
Date of Submission
October 2019
Abstract
Two experiments examined how exposure to superhero images influences both prosociality and meaning in life. In Experiment 1 (N = 246) exposed individuals to scenes with superhero images or neutral images. Individuals primed with superhero images reported greater helping intentions relative to the control group, which, in turn, were associated with increased meaning in life (indirect effect only; no direct effect). In Experiment 2 (N = 123), individuals exposed to a superhero poster helped an experimenter in a tedious task more than those exposed to a bicycle poster, though no differences were found for meaning in life. These results suggest that subtle activation of superhero stimuli increases prosocial intentions and behavior.
Rights
Copyright © 2018 Van Tongeren, Hibbard, Edwards, Johnson, Diepholz, Newbound, Shay, Houpt, Cairo and Green. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Is Part Of
VCU Psychology Publications
Comments
Originally published at https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02243
Funded in part by the VCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund.