The Batman Effect* Sacred Classrooms* Bookstores v. Libraries*

Library at Reed College.  A more sacred place for learning?

 The Batman Effect*

Learned about a way to "stop procrastination" called the Batman effect.  Self-distancing makes you more productive.  Here's a BBC article detailing a range of different experiments that replicate this in differnet areas that improve productivity and reduce anxiety about the future.  Here's a quick review from this online place:

Let me introduce you to “The Batman Effect”. In a recent podcast conversation with Professor Ethan Kross, a University of Michigan researcher (whose PhD supervisor was Walter Mischel of the “Marshmallow Experiment” fame), he described a study he completed with several colleagues where a sample of 4 and 6-year-old children were invited to complete a boring task on a computer. The children were instructed to work hard, keep at it as long as they could – and they were reminded the task was boring. And then, to test their commitment to the cause, the researchers informed the kids that they could take a break whenever they wanted to play a fun game on a tablet. This distraction opportunity is very important. You’ll see why in a moment. The children were divided into three groups:

Group one – Researchers told them to ask themselves, “Am I working hard?” while they completed the task.

Group two – Researchers instructed these children to ask themselves, “Is ______ working hard?” (they filled in the blank with their own names). This creates some “self-distance” or “psychological distance” by talking to oneself in the third person.

Group three – Researchers told these children to pretend they were a favourite hard working character like Batman, Bob the Builder, or Dora the Explorer. They received a prop, like a cape, as a visual reminder to act like their character. And what they asked themselves was “Is Batman working hard?”

Rachel White, Ethan Kross, and their colleagues found that children who referred to themselves in the first-person did not enjoy the task. They took the most breaks, motivation was poor, as were results, and they essentially struggled to get through the task. The second group – those who referred to themselves in the third person – did a little better. But those with the most psychological distance from the task, the ‘Batman’ group, worked harder, took fewer breaks, and enjoyed the task more than the others! Subsequent research by Kross and his colleagues has found that this idea of pretending to be Batman works for adults too.

Sacred Classroom*

Lily Abadal on substack muses about how the classroom is a profane and uninspiring space -- the image above is an exception!  Teachers should make some effort to make it more sacred, motivational.  Here's a short excerpt.

How do we make it feel that way?

The classroom should have different norms than the rest of mundane life.

In all transparency, I have not done the best job at this. I’m trying to think about the small ways my classroom needs to change to communicate that learning is a dignified experience and not something to slog through with only one ear open. But this is the most central and foundational aspect of making it feel different. To feel different, it needs to be different from what is experienced outside it. If that means setting aside technology at intentional times, so be it. If that means writing by hand, so be it. If that means reading from the most extravagant version of the text you can find, so be it (I will say there are some wonderfully beautiful copies of books that are surprisingly not cost prohibitive). The goal is for students to feel that learning is an elevated experience. Because it should be.

Bookstore v Libraries*

Last week I was at school for some summer PD.  I kept getting distracted by the library stacks.  Just walking by the books in shelves, catching glimpses of titles in biography and history and travel etc. makes my heart leap a little.  There's so much there I want to know more about!  I feel a little dopamine surge.

My feelings in book stores in different.  I am attracted to the books, but they're obviously for commerce -- the latest, the flashiest, tables of bestsellers.  

Used book stores feel different to me.  Often, they feel like garage sales: books that someone doesn't want anymore.