[HN Gopher] The 'Batman Effect': How having an alter ego empower... ___________________________________________________________________ The 'Batman Effect': How having an alter ego empowers you Author : mrleinad Score : 86 points Date : 2022-04-16 20:13 UTC (2 hours ago) (HTM) web link (lsa.umich.edu) (TXT) w3m dump (lsa.umich.edu) | Barrin92 wrote: | Immediately made me think of VTubing. A lot of vtubers now are | among the most popular streaming channels on Youtube and many of | them are probably what you could call above average performers in | terms of what content they put out, from music to narrative | fiction. | | Also reminded of me of an interview with Buckethead explaining | his alter ego: | | _" "Because I was always super scared to play, and I didn't | really link that together, I just thought 'This is weird.' Like a | horror movie guy. And when he saw it he was like 'You should just | go for it!' I was like 'That would be cool.' Because I could do | everything I liked doing as this character that I'm totally | scared to death to do otherwise. And it applied to all the stuff | I like, like Disneyland and martial arts and dancing, all that | stuff I liked. I was like, 'I can't do it just like me.' It was a | great way to get all the stuff out."_ | vmception wrote: | My friends that I've taken to masquarades (or just worn fun | masks to clubs with) have said similar things. | | Its like despite being goofier and less conspicuous, they feel | so much more free | unwind wrote: | Okay I will fly the Old Guy flag proudly and paste a | definition: | | _A VTuber, or virtual YouTuber, is an online entertainer who | uses a virtual avatar generated using computer graphics and | real-time motion capture software or technology._ | | Straight from Wikipedia. | drBonkers wrote: | I don't think this one is an old guy thing. No one I know in | their 20s would know what a VTuber is. Thanks for the | definition. | psyc wrote: | I'm in my forties and have known exactly what this was for | years (ever since Hatsune Miku), but still had to look up | the term "VTuber", which I did not recognize. | agumonkey wrote: | French guitarist Matthieu Cheddid, althought not hiding as | much, says he changed his appearance and created some kind of | persona (so-called M) to drop his fears to be a public artist. | bobkazamakis wrote: | You bring guitar into the idea of an alter ego without | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckethead | egypturnash wrote: | Furries have known this power for decades. | amelius wrote: | Perhaps schizophrenia has an evolutionary advantage? | _qua wrote: | That's not what schizophrenia is. | V-2 wrote: | You probably meant split personality. | thenerdhead wrote: | I taught comedy improv for many years. One tip I would give new | performers is to adopt an alter ego for the stage (a fun fake | name and/or personality) and to choose a totem (an object) that | they wear to do just that such as shoes, a shirt, watch, etc. | | This helped so many different people such as accountants, pre-k | teachers, stay-at-home moms, and even university professors get | out of their shells, prevent their stage fright, and to be more | energetic on-stage when their normal persona is calm, cool, and | collected. | | I do believe we also have an alter ego in three different | situations such as work, home, and play. Another common thing I | would teach is that you can alter your characters in scenes | easily by adopting one of those personas of the character you're | portraying. | | I believe many people adopt an alter ego without knowing it | today. These are YouTubers, Streamers, Conference Speakers, and | really anything where there's a concept of a "stage". | | The book "The Alter Ego Effect" by Todd Herman goes into this | further, but my favorite material on this is "Impro" by Keith | Johnstone. | hesdeadjim wrote: | I've found five years of D&D to have a similar, and persistent, | effect. In the beginning I found it hard to relax and "yes and" | what was going on. Fast forward to now, I can be in character | in front of random people without a hint of anxiety. It was a | completely unexpected side-effect of playing, and I've also | seen a general increase in creativity as well. | sklargh wrote: | Came here thinking about how much my time as a B|X ref has | helped me socially/professionally. | bovermyer wrote: | When does it stop being an alter ego and become dissociative | identity disorder? | macksd wrote: | When it starts being involuntary and harmful, or perhaps in | response to emotional trauma? | cwaffles wrote: | I recall there was an article of mental models to make the most | in life, knowing that their time on Earth is limited. For example | one would try to live like they are the protagonist of their own | life movie, living like a rock star. Does anyone recall an | article like that? | Comevius wrote: | I wonder if this comes with side effects, like how mindfulness | increases selfishness in those who think that their existence is | independent from the existence of others, which is how most | people in Western countries think. | | Playfulness is probably a healthier option for shifting your | perception compared to this much self-distancing. | emerged wrote: | You managed to shit on both westerners and people who use | mindfulness... for no real reason. | | Or maybe it was your alter ego? | | Anyway, I used to have an alter ego. But I stopped using it for | years, then one day a guy I never met got really mad at me | because he didn't want to use my nickname. It was an odd moment | because I had never met him and don't even use that nickname. | He just heard it from someone else and the existence of a | nickname apparently made him angry. | | I quit shortly after because the manager who was also on the | call didn't even react as this guy I never met yelled at me for | reasons that made no sense. | katzgrau wrote: | > like how mindfulness increases selfishness in those who think | that their existence is independent from the existence of | others | | ... If one was really being mindful, they'd eventually see that | the existence of their "self" is only possible in relation to | others existing. So there's the self and the other, but in | essence, one. | | And that's one of the reasons the golden rule makes so much | sense. | | So I wouldn't blame mindfulness for any side effects. Negative | side effects are the result of the ego/self creeping back into | the picture. | Comevius wrote: | The problem might not be with mindfulness, but with our self- | centered culture, which causes this secularized mindfulness | to be a snake oil with a few personal benefits at best. It's | more of a self-discipline or concentration tool when you | strip it from it's culture, which used to involve ethics as I | understand. | ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: | Do we not all have a professional alter ego? I'm a completely | different guy when I'm at work, I don't give myself a different | name, and it's not the same pressure as a rock star but still, it | seems natural. | fsloth wrote: | I am at least and it's terribly exhausting. Need to pretend I | care about the product, care about being perceived as a high | output individual contributor etc. Need to pretend I'm good | with people and generally cheery. | | I am all of those things at work, but I need to say to myself | "be all of these things" and consciously think about "ok how | would or should the professional me act in this situation". | | Maybe everyone does it to an extent, I don't know. | | Professional life has certain expectations I find artificial | and incomprehensible (multiple weird games going on behind the | scenes etc) so I try to cope. | | Weird rules like "every engineer is expected to take pride in | their work and have their professional output be a matter of | honor" and so on. My take is - "meh. You pay me. I write your | high quality code. It's terribly important but also terribly | tedious and boring. I really do not appreciate the hours I need | to waste at my job but that's what it means to earn a living as | a cog in a machine and I seem to be a pretty well performing | cog". | | Every programmer probably dreams of winning a lottery so they | could focus on writing programs they find interesting and not | just those that pay the bills. | akvadrako wrote: | No, I'm pretty much the same at work as with my friends and | alone. | | I also don't do well in very corporate environments. But that | tradeoff is worth it. | RF_Savage wrote: | Yeah I'm sure everybody has their worksona. | DoreenMichele wrote: | Only if you have any sense and a clue. | | Some people don't do that and maybe learn the hard way that | it's not good to be too genuine all the time with everyone. | vmception wrote: | Yeah I just nod and agree with co-worker's exclusionary forms | of inclusion, to continue exchanging time for money and | potentially sex with that co-worker. | | A very large part of how echo chambers form | FFRefresh wrote: | I really like the framing you used: 'exclusionary forms of | inclusion'. Really encapsulates it well. | danielmarkbruce wrote: | Trump seems to use this to great effect.... | google234123 wrote: | Fake it 'til you make it - though most people we see or hear | about in the news are outliers :p | unknownus3r wrote: | Strongly disagree. While "alter ego" helps short term it just | delays the reckoning and imposter syndrome for later and leads to | identity issues and confusion. Take the hard path in the present | and watch it get easier later | LAC-Tech wrote: | This can most clearly be seen in professional wrestling, where | their alter egos are front and centre of the whole presentation. | evocatus wrote: | What happens when you assume the alter ego in perpetuity? Where | does the "original ego" go? | tyurok wrote: | Art imitates life until life imitates art. | QuikAccount wrote: | Funny that you ask this. I recall reading about this a while | ago although I can't find what I was reading. Apparently this | is called "ego suicide." Killing your original self and letting | the personality you created takeover your entire being. | TeaDude wrote: | I have an further question. No pressure if you don't remember | or it wasn't listed. (I'm really interested in _anyone_ who | can answer this) | | Is there a term for when you believe that that "original ego" | was killed by something else? Be it killed by "the world" or | some serious life event or revelation or something. | evocatus wrote: | This is the ego death. You could fill libraries with what | has been written on this phenomenon, though under many | different names. | [deleted] | jollybean wrote: | Chris Gaines [1] | | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Gaines | anyfactor wrote: | What's up, you got Ed Chambers. | | https://youtube.com/watch?v=vnug6i5SkQQ | ankit219 wrote: | I just wonder what are the other things from comic books that | might actually turn out to be true if there is research on them. | V-2 wrote: | To me the effect occurs - to some extent - with regard to which | language I speak. | bigmattystyles wrote: | This is an anecdote of 1, but I grew up in France speaking French | and moved to the US at 11. I don't have an accent when I speak | English or French. I'm truly bilingual. I feel like I have way | less anxiety, am more relaxed and have more confidence when I | speak French, and it's not just the setting. I've done it for | long periods of time professionally, on dates, etc.. I don't know | if there's anything to this. To me it's always felt like there | was. | drewcoo wrote: | soared wrote: | Full article: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200817-the- | batman-eff... | version_five wrote: | Just to nitpick, "Bruce Wayne" is the alter ego of batman, not | the other way around, at least in the Chris Nolan movies. In | reality he's smart and tough and hardened by the League of | Shadows, etc. But as Bruce Wayne he plays a bimbo billionaire so | that nobody will realize who he actually is. | tomcam wrote: | Many consider me a bimbo thousandaire | Rzor wrote: | In many comic books too. He thinks of himself as Batman, not | Bruce Wayne, and never feels entirely comfortable without the | mask. | endominus wrote: | Not just the Nolan movies; a number of comics mention that, and | a memorable scene in Batman Beyond makes it even more explicit. | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t7yiN_Z5eg | [deleted] | smoe wrote: | Reminded me of something my mother told me about her school years | in Finland in around the 60s: In the beginning of the year for | the foreign language classes every student had to came up with a | fictional persona that fits the culture of the language being | learned and stick with it during the entire year. | | As I understand one of the main rationales was, that if it less | likely for you to fall back to the native tongue when you don't | know how to say something when you are playing a role. I found | that pretty interesting. I have no idea how widespread this sort | of thing is/was. | tomcam wrote: | Childish Gambino, Donald Glover's alter ego, covering a song by | Chris Gaines, Garth Brooks' alter ego: | | https://youtu.be/yBPKdl_YeqE ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-04-16 23:00 UTC)