Like, personally, when I'm on public transit I go into full disassociation mode. I wouldn't even notice a pregnant woman because I'm trying my best to ignore everyone. But someone dressed as Batman would snap me out of that. Its hard to ignore someone dressed as Batman, and once you focus on him, you start focusing on other people as well.

[–] teft@piefed.social 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Passengers were significantly more likely to offer their seat when Batman was present (67.21% vs. 37.66%, OR = 3.393, p < 0.001). Notably, 44% of those who offered their seat in the experimental condition reported not seeing Batman. These findings suggest that unexpected events can promote prosociality, even without conscious awareness, with implications for encouraging kindness in public settings.

[–] ignirtoq@feddit.online 6 points 1 day ago

My hypothesis on that is people responding to others' body language to get the same snap-out-of-dissociation effect. The people closest to Batman would see him and then look around at others more to gauge their responses. Others further away wouldn't see Batman, but would notice the more-attentive-than-usual other passengers and be similarly more attentive to try to find out what's going on. They then would notice seemingly unrelated things, like the pregnant woman, and respond more than usual. The paper also says Batman entered from a different door, so a ripple effect of attentiveness could explain this effect without needing responders to directly see Batman.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 3 points 1 day ago

Friendly correction (passing it along because I got the same correction), it's dissociation