Simulation123

In the article Superman to the Rescue: Simulating Physical Invulnerability Attenuates Exclusion-Related Interpersonal Biases (Ackerman, Bargh, & Huan, 2013) Julie Huan, Joshua Ackerman, and John Bargh set up a number of studies including a pre-test, study one, study two, and study three to demonstrate the relation between physical invulnerability simulation and positive or negative reactions to being excluded in social situations. They also consider how the reactions of exclusion can change when interrupted by superhero fantasies. An emphasis is placed on the idea that these people do not believe they have superpowers, instead they just imagine them. Overall, the study serves to find if simulating the idea of physical invulnerability can lessen the concerns of physical threats in terms of psychological concerns. For this paper, physical invulnerability is defined as the ability to be invulnerable to physical pain—it is not to be confused with immortality or emotional invulnerability. Based off of the past research outlined above, researchers predict to find that the belief of physical invulnerability has the capability to change one’s social reality. In other words, if this belief really did reduce exposure to danger, then it can be concluded that targeting concern of physical threat could potentially interfere with the coping mechanisms used for exclusion. If this is true then, connections between mental processes (used to manage social and physical outcomes) could…