Stanford researchers conducted this experiment:
One at a time, 30 men and 30 women entered the simulator and strapped on a set of goggles that transported them into a digital cityscape. A woman’s voice then explained their mission: A diabetic child is stranded somewhere in the city, and you must find him and deliver an insulin injection.
With a whoosh of air, the subjects left the ground – either controlling their flight by a series of arm motions, like Superman, or as a passenger in a helicopter. As they scoured the city, wall-mounted speakers gave the impression of wind whistling by; powerful speakers in the floor produced vibrations to simulate riding in a helicopter. The experiment was set so that two minutes into the simulation, no matter what mode of transport, the subject found the sick child.
After removing the virtual reality goggles, each person then sat with an experimenter to answer a few questions about the experience. This questionnaire, however, was a ruse: During the interview, the experimenter would “accidentally” knock over a cup filled with 15 pens. She would wait five seconds to see if the subject would help her pick them up, and then begin collecting the pens, one pen per second, to give the person another opportunity to come to her aid.
The people who had just flown as Superman were quick to lend a hand, beginning to pick up the pens within three seconds. The helicopter group, however, picked up the first pen, on average, after six seconds (one second after the experimenter began picking them up herself).
The superhero group not only pitched in first, they also picked up about 15 percent more pens on average. While everyone who flew like Superman picked up some pens, six participants who rode in the helicopter failed to offer any help at all.
So, video games where you play the superhero help you behave like a superhero. I’m off to play Zelda for the next couple of hours. Then, I’ll go to work and see if I am (even) nicer to everyone than I am normally.
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June 10, 2013 at 10:30 pm
Alcione
Wouldn’t it be funny if the ride was named Red Herring?At this stage the coaster is just a rumor, thgouh definitely a possibility. As a comparison, Colossus covers about ten acres. There are about six acres of land in Log Jammer’s area, so that is plenty of room for something. Considering that the old Metro tunnel is available, that could open up even more ideas. All of this has been floating around since Log Jammer’s closure, but I’m going to wait till SFMM officially announces something. Whatever they plan for 2013 will be announced about six to eight months from now.
June 12, 2013 at 8:12 pm
djlmsdway
1BeR0S gtjdzynqtrbv
September 5, 2013 at 7:16 am
Mina
Shoot, so that’s that one supossep.
October 17, 2013 at 10:14 pm
Raul
I’m interested in fidning out more about the group and what it does. I just found the reference to it and so am pretty uninformed about how it works. Any information you can supply will be gratefully received.Jim Moody