Children's attitudes toward superheroes as a potential indicator of their moral understanding

Abstract

McCrary's work in the late 1990s suggested that superheroes influence children's development of moral values. Similarly, Bauer and Dettore advocated adults' and educators' monitoring of children's superhero play to help children foster cooperation and conflict resolution skills. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between children's attitudes toward themselves and their attitudes towards superheroes. Forty‐two fourth‐grade children (aged 9–11) from a school in Massachusetts completed a questionnaire. Results indicated that participants generally rated themselves and their superhero as being high on prosocial behaviour. Findings suggest that there may be a relationship between how children feel about themselves and how they feel about superheroes.