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what is right (e.g., “Yes, he understands and feels what is right and he tries to do it,” 20-
year-old male); (3) and knowing ‘right’ from ‘wrong.’ (e.g., “he always had a voice
telling what was right & wrong” 14-year-old female). The majority of participants
viewed Batman as having conscience because he saves people (26.6%), followed by
21.4% who perceived him trying to do what is right, and 15.6% who believed Batman to
understand ‘right’ from ‘wrong.’
The kinds of explanations that participants gave about Robin’s conscience
involved: (1) overcoming his desire for revenge and saving Two Face (e.g., “His
conscience holds him back from sending Two Face to his death, which is tough
considering Two Face killed his family,” 21-year-old male; (2) general statements such
as ‘he’s a good guy,’ (e.g., “He's a hero. (good guy)),” 15-year-old female; and (3) Robin
desires revenge, a response associated with perceiving Robin as low on conscience (e.g.,
“mainly he just wants to get revenge,” 15-year-old female. The majority of participants
perceived Robin to have a conscience because he chooses to save the life of Two Face
(41.1%), while 13.5% believed Robin to be ‘a good guy’. 6.8% thought that Robin
desired revenge (perceived as a negative quality).
Revenge
With development, we expected more understanding of the concept that people
are not good or evil, but a mixture of the two. Such an understanding should be
associated with a decrease in a desire for revenge.
Two questions were summed to examine the participants’ belief in revenge: 1) “If
someone is evil, then they deserve to die”, and 2) “It is ok for Robin to get even for what
happened to his family.” Higher scores mean that subjects were higher on revenge.
Convention