GRGR context: comic books

[pynchonoid]

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date:
15-Nov-2005


Contact: Jill Yablonski
JournalNews at bos.blackwellpublishing.net
781-388-8448
Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Comic books shadow how we react to threats

In times of social danger and economic turmoil, many
psychologists believe that people become more
aggressive, more conventional, and less interested in
feelings and emotions. A new study published in the
latest issue of Political Psychology finds that comic
book characters do these things as well. In times of
higher threat, i.e. the events of 1979 which included
the Iran hostage crisis, comic books contained more
aggressive imagery, focused on male characters, and
were less introspective. The authors reviewed comic
books published between 1978 -1992 frame by frame to
judge the amount of violence and conventionalism
drawn, the number of women and minorities in speaking
or subordinate roles, portrayal of wrongdoing by the
authorities, and the amount of reflection (thought in
balloons rather than dialogue). In general, the
authors found that women spoke less and a
significantly greater number of panels were devoted to
aggression during high threat periods.

The authors reviewed eight Marvel comic books that are
still published today. These titles included four
titles that featured more conventional heroes that
represent American virtues like U.S. patriotism
(Captain America) and the everyman (Spider-Man). The
other four heroes were less conventional with themes
such as persecution by society (X-men) and a vigilante
who lives in an "amoral urban hell" (Daredevil). When
compared against their own sales, the unconventional
titles sold more copies during the low-threat times
compared to the high-threat times; whereas the
conventional hero sales remained flat. "As an aspect
of popular culture, comic books have always reflected
the historical time period in which they were
produced," author Bill Peterson explains.

###

This study is published in the December issue of
Political Psychology. Media wishing to receive a PDF
of this article please contact
journalnews at bos.blackwellpublishing.net

Political Psychology, the journal of the International
Society of Political Psychology, is dedicated to the
analysis of the interrelationships between
psychological and political processes.

Bill Peterson is a professor at Smith College. He is a
personality psychologist who has published many peer
reviewed articles on topics related to political
psychology. Dr. Peterson is available for media
questions and interviews.

Blackwell Publishing is the world's leading society
publisher, partnering with more than 600 academic and
professional societies. Blackwell publishes over 750
journals annually and, to date, has published close to
6,000 text and reference books, across a wide range of
academic, medical, and professional subjects.



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