What Is The Batman Effect And How Does It Affect Children?
The batman effect is a fun and easy way to show kids that they are stronger than they think. It contrasts with today, since it is increasingly difficult to teach perseverance and mental strength to children.
Certainly, the batman effect allows you to discover and work on a skill as important as perseverance. It is an amazing strategy that keeps many children sticking with the most boring tasks.
In fact, numerous studies have shown that the Batman effect affects children in a positive way and allows them to achieve greater performance and perseverance than those children who have a third or first person perspective.
Implementing tactics that help children avoid distractions in working toward long-term goals is crucial to success. This is what happens with the batman effect, since the little ones imagine themselves as superheroes and draw all the energy and motivation from within to finish any activity they propose.
The batman effect and perseverance
Perseverance, or the ability to stick with something, is essential for success in life, and especially for children; they have the appeal of technology and the ability to access almost any form of entertainment out of the box.
Given the difficulties that little ones have to persevere in the most complicated and boring tasks, the batman effect is a very useful strategy that works perfectly. Basically, it consists of motivating children thanks to their references, with the intention that they imitate their attitudes.
Young children who play a role and identify with a character known for their positive qualities can increase their perseverance. Do not forget that it is a skill that allows them to self-regulate, avoid distractions and focus on goals and objectives.
The batman effect gets children to move to a third person point of view and think from an outside perspective. Especially, it causes them to withdraw emotionally from the experiences they feel in those moments, which implies better self-regulation and, therefore, greater constancy.
More persevering children dressed as batman
To try to explain the Batman effect on children, we want to draw on research that has shown that children are more persistent when they are dressed up as their favorite superhero.
What its authors did is test 180 children of 4 and 6 years of age to pass an exercise on a computer. However, they also had the opportunity to play the iPad if they were bored.
From there, the children were divided into three groups. In the first, the children had to think about their performance and whether they were giving 100%: In the second, they were asked to think of themselves in the third person. Finally, the third group had to imagine that they were a superhero.
The experiment showed that children in the third group were the ones who spent the most time working without being distracted by the chance to play with the device. The possible explanation is that children dressed as superheroes identify with this character with special powers and want to imitate him.
Can I use the batman effect at home?
Without a doubt, the answer is yes. The batman effect can be a way to motivate your child to clean the room or finish his chores. In fact, it can be the push you need and it can be achieved simply.
You only need to identify one of their favorite action characters. Of course, make sure it is someone who works hard and is a good reference. From there, whenever you see your child having trouble concentrating on a task, encourage him by telling him to do his job just like his favorite superhero would.
You can even dive into this game and call him using the name of the superhero in question. This will excite your child and make him feel more involved.
In fact, you may find yourself comfortable playing this role and performing better than usual. Have no doubt that each time your child successfully perseveres, he will develop the mental toughness he needs to overcome more difficult challenges.
In short, the Batman effect is one of the most useful methods to motivate those little ones who have difficulties to focus their attention. As you have seen, it has many benefits, so it will surely be of great help to your child.
