Skyler Seger

Batman and Psychology

The definition of Altruism according to our text book is helping

another, often with a risk to oneself, for reasons other than the expectation

of a reward. It means that there is no gain for yourself to help, but you do it

anyways. Batman is a character who represents the word altruism. He

always puts himself in danger without any expectation of a reward. In the

“Batman and Psychology” book it doesn’t say a lot about altruism other

than that Bruce/Batman lives of life of it. As does his sidekick Robin. A

website I found says altruism is when we act to promote someone else’s

welfare, even at a risk or cost to ourselves. Studies have found that

people’s first impulse is to cooperate rather than compete. This website

goes into greater detail but all the definitions are relatively the same.

The textbook says that Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is when a

person is thinking the same thoughts over and over. It is an anxiety order

consisting of obsessions and compulsions. A compulsive person may feel

compelled to wash their hands 20 to 30 times a day or to avoid stepping on

cracks in the sidewalk when they go outside. The Batman book talks about

obsessions as “persistent ideas, thoughts, impulses, or images that are

experienced as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety

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or distress”. Unlike most people, the obsessed individuals in the Batman

world usually give into their obsessions. The Batman book describes OCD

as someone who has at some point recognized that the obsessions or

compulsions are excessive or compulsions are excessive or unreasonable”

but most of the characters don’t realize that. Selina Kyle, or Catwoman may

have obsessive-compulsive disorder. She refers to herself as a

kleptomaniac. OCD medication has been known the reduce some of a

kleptomaniac’s urges to steal. Her compulsion is stealing.

Sigmund Freud passed away before batman made his debut. We can

speculate on what he might have said about Batman because he said a lot

about traumatic experiences. He said that traumatic experiences will affect

boys at around the age Bruce was when his parents died. While Sigmund

Freud focused more on life’s earliest years and would have most likely

dwelled on the Waynes’ deaths, Carl Jung considered individual personality

growth. Robin is a living symbol of the boy that Bruce was when he first lost

his parents. Robin used cognitive learning or cognitive development to

grow into what Batman resembles. The textbook says that Cognitive

learning is a form of altering behavior that involves mental processes and

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may result from observation or imitation. Robin observed and somewhat

imitated Batman so he would be an example of this.

Captain America vs. Iron Man: Freedom, Security, Psychology

An ego is the part of the personality that is in touch with reality and

strives to meet the demands of the id and the superego in socially

acceptable ways. The superego is the part of the personality that is the

source of conscience and counteracts the socially undesirable impulses of

the id. According to Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson in the Captain

America vs. Iron Man book the mind begins to grow it’s ego. Freud

described the ego as a mediator between the superego and the id. Erik

Erikson saw it as more than that. He saw the ego as a positive driving force

in human development and personality. He believed the ego’s main job was

to establish and maintain a sense of identity. Both Tony Stark and Steve

Rodgers show a strong grasp of external reality through different ways.

Steve is better at seeing people’s inner qualities while Tony pays more

attention to their outward behavior. Captain America manages to have very

good self control. People with good self control sometimes expect others to

also show self control. Iron man is opposite of this and often times has
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trouble maintaining self-control. He doesn’t always trust other individuals to

behave responsibly and stay in control as a result of his own weakness.

The textbook definition of Post-traumatic stress disorder is a disorder

in which victims of catastrophes or other traumatic events experience the

original event in the form of dreams or flashbacks. The Captain America vs.

Iron man book defines says that it is diagnosed when a person experiences

a traumatic, potentially life threatening event and subsequently shows

certain kinds of symptoms that interfere with life functioning. This can be a

direct experience or an indirect one, such as when an individual learns of a

loved one’s trauma. The book is much more descriptive than the text book

and says a lot more about it. It then goes on to talk about the symptoms of

PTSD, which include intrusinos, avoidance, negative changes in the

person’s mood or thoughts, and increased arousal symptoms. About half of

all people are exposed to traumatic events at some point in there lives, but

not everyone develops PTSD. Both Steve and Tony lose their parents,

almost die in several situations, see friends die, and fight enemies that are

capable of conquering or destroying the world. Tony is the only one

however that seems to develop PTSD. Tony has flashbacks fighting alien

invaders in New York, he stays up for 72 hours straight to work on a new

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suit to avoid having anxiety attacks and nightmares, he lashes out at his

butler Jarvis, and he often drinks to forget about his pain. These are all

symptoms of PTSD and it is clear that Tony has it.

The Psychology of The Simpsons

I read the chapter “Can Bart or Homer Learn?” by W. Robert Batsell

Jr. The book talks about observational learning in this chapter. The book

says that observational learning involves at least two individuals, a model

and an observer. The model performs an action, and a consequence

follows. If the consequence benefits the model, the observer is more likely

to copy the model’s behavior. This happens in an early episode of The

Simpsons where Bart sees a daredevil and decides to try to be a daredevil

himself. In the textbook on page 262 it talks about modeling. The definition

of modeling in the textbook is “learning by imitating others; copying

behavior”. It says that the second type of modeling is usually called

observational learning, or imitation. It is where an observer watches

someone perform a behavior and is later able to reproduce it closely,

though the observer was unable to do this before observing the model.

Both the textbook and Simpsons books definitions were very similar.
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In the same chapter of “The Psychology of The Simpsons” book it

also talks about classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning. It says

that classical conditioning involves a situation in which the organism learns

that a neutral stimulus predicts a biologically significant event. Food-

aversion learning is a form of classical conditioning where an organism

consumes a flavorful food or drink before they are sick. When they re-

encounter the food, they will avoid consuming it. This happens with Homer

when he learns he may have eaten a poisonous fish that will kill him. But

he does not avoid consuming fish afterwards and continues eating it. The

book also talks about instrumental conditioning. It says that it involves an

organism voluntarily making a response to produce a specific outcome. An

example in the simpsons is that Bart frequently acts out in class to gain the

approval of his classmates. In the textbook on page 241 it says classical

conditioning is a learning procedure in which associations are made

between a natural stimulus and a neutral stimulus. On page 250 of the

textbook is talks about operant conditioning which is the same thing as

instrumental conditioning. It says it is learning in which a certain action in

reinforced or punished, resulting in corresponding increases or decreases

in occurrence.
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The other chapter I read was “Alcohol—The Cause of, and Solution

to, All Life’s Problems”. The book says that in the U.S about half of the

population over twelve report being current drinkers. It can be a serious

health problem and is estimated to cost the U.S. over 184 billion dollars a

year in health care. On page 477 in the textbook it talks about Alcoholism. It

says that the country’s most serious drug problem is alcoholism. The

Simpsons book thinks that Barney, Ned and Homer could possibly have

alcoholism. They are drinking all the time in the show and show a lot of the

signs such as Tolerance and Withdrawal.

Sources

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/altruism/definition

https://allpsych.com/personalitysynopsis/eriksons/