BrainStuff Classics: Can Playing Pretend Help Kids Focus?

When kids pretend to be a hero like Batman, it lets them separate themselves from temptation and stay on task. Learn more about the Batman Effect in this classic episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff. Lauren Volke bam here with a classic episode
from our previous host, Christian Sager. To be honest, I
can find it hard to focus even on the best
of days, and it's certainly a struggle with everything going
on right now. But some psychological research from a few
years back found a mental exercise that might help. Hey

(00:27):
brain Stuff is Christian Sager here. Pretending is fun. Take
the simple task of making breakfast. Would you rather make
scrambled eggs while pondering your utility payments? Or say, pretend
you're a short order cook tasked with making the world's
best scrambled eggs for a celebrity Breakfast is a lot
more interesting when there's something at steak. According to a

(00:49):
recent study in the journal Child Development, kids are savvy
to this trick. Self distancing is when we view personal
experiences from an outsider's perspective. Aiming to test the benefits
of this on children's perseverance, the researchers asked one hundred
and eighty kids ages four or six to do a

(01:10):
pretty boring computer task for ten minutes. Although all the
kids had to do was press a key when they
saw a certain image. They were told the task was
important and that they had to be good helpers. They
could take breaks to play a game on an iPad
if they wanted. The researchers split the kids into three
groups and asked each to think about its performance on

(01:32):
the given task from a certain perspective, self immersed, third
person or exemplar. Kids in the self immersed group asked themselves,
am I working hard? The third person group reflected on
the task by asking, is Christian Sager working hard? Now?
That's just me doing the third person there and the

(01:53):
exemplar group, those children imagined they were either Batman, Bob
the Builder, Rapuns or Dora the Explorer, well known characters
who are model hard workers, and were given props to
help them get in character. They were told to ask themselves,
for example, is Batman working hard? Every minute of the task.

(02:15):
A recorded voice prompted the children with their allotted question.
The researchers found that the kids in both age groups
who imagined themselves as a character spent a longer time
on the task, although predictably, the younger kids spent less
time on the task than the older kids Across the board.
The six year olds who were asked to reflect in

(02:35):
person spent about thirty five percent of the time on
the task rather than on break, and the four year
olds just over twenty. But the children pretending to be
fictional heroes spent fifty five percent of their time working,
while the four year olds in this group spent thirty
two percent of their time on task. The researchers posit

(02:58):
that when the children used third person or impersonated characters,
the kids distance themselves from the boring task and tempting game,
allowing them to gain more focus and self control. Taking
an outsider's perspective on one's own behavior can improve perseverance
in the face of entertaining distractions. This is what the

(03:21):
researchers say in their study, but interpreting these results is
not so simple. Is pretending to be a character just fun?
Does it make kids think like they're powerful alter egos?
The study authors say Answering these questions will require more research. Regardless,
the current study suggests that for kids, sticking to a

(03:43):
task might be easier with role play. Now, if you'll
excuse me, I've got to go change outfits because I
am Vengeance, I am the Knight Today's episode was written
by Kate Kirshner and produced by Tristan McNeil and Tyler Clay.

(04:04):
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