The Good the Bad and the Ugly Fan Art
The Expert, Bad, and Ugly Psychology of Comic-Con
When not-geeks observe out I'grand a geeky psychologist, we ever end up talking about comic-cons.
"What's the deal with all those weird people who clothes up?"
"You mean cosplay?" I answer. "It'due south a cool way to celebrate a grapheme you honey, kinda like Halloween. I cosplay as Captain Kirk all the fourth dimension."
"X-Men and the Avengers are cool merely I'one thousand non ane of those loners who can't dissever fiction from reality."
It always bums me to hear that, people discounting something they haven't tried.
"Comic-con people are actually really friendly. Some of the coolest people I know I randomly met at a convention."
And then in that location'south my favorite...
"There's got to be something incorrect with people who go to comic-cons! Why would anyone stand in line for hours just to see a glimpse of a new pic?"
"People stand in line for all kinds of things they're excited about similar a special sale, a new amusement park ride, their favorite band, or a big sports game."
Since this chat keeps coming up, I wanted to set the record directly and share my guide to geek conventions. I present to you now the good, bad, and ugly psychology of comic-cons.
What's comic-con?
Comic book conventions are merely ane type of fan gathering. There are others – Star Expedition conventions, Star Wars celebrations, video game and tabletop gaming expos, anime conventions, and many more. Regardless of the focus, they're all organized the same way. You tin attend panels to learn about a topic, encounter celebrities, talk to artists and writers, shop at huge exhibit halls, and see people who like the same stuff you exercise.
Some of my favorite memories from past comic-cons:
What separates comic-cons from other fan gatherings is how popular they've go. Take San Diego Comic-Con for example. It started as a modest meeting of 300 people in 1971 and grew to fit into the San Diego Convention Center in the 1990s. Everything changed in the early 2000s when Ten-Men and Spider-Human launched the superhero picture show genre. Soon after, Hollywood moved into San Diego Comic Con to promote their films straight to fans. As a result, San Diego Comic-Con has grown to become the largest fan gathering in the Us with over 130,000 attendees. Information technology's as well expanded across comic books and focuses on all aspects of pop culture.
A beginner's guide to comic-cons:
San Diego Comic-Con's formula is existence replicated beyond the globe. While they vary in size and quality, chances are in that location'south a comic-con happening near you sometime soon. For amend or worse, we're in the center of a comic-con explosion right now (read more than about that at the SDCC Unofficial Blog).
The practiced: It's all nigh people
The main reason most people go to a comic-con is to encounter people.
Surprised? Don't be. The stereotype that geeks are loners who don't care about social interaction is completely simulated. Geeks love making new friends and comic-cons arrive piece of cake to detect other people who love the aforementioned things you do. It's similar baseball game fans going to a sports bar on game day.
Hanging out with my friends is e'er the best part of comic-con. San Diego Comic Con 2013.
Wanting to connect with people is hard-wired into our psychology. It might even exist our most important evolutionary advantage as a species. The encephalon prioritizes social relationships so much that when it's doing cypher, the encephalon's default setting is to keep itself prepared for social situations. That'due south why it's so easy to strike up a conversation at a comic-con – our brains are always set up to talk near our geeky interests.
That'southward one of the coolest things near conventions Рthey pb to new friendships. From Geek Therapist Josu̩ Cardona to Larry "Dr. Trek" Nemecek and film journalist Aaron Neuwirth, I've met a ton of cool people at comic-cons. We know friendships improve immune system functioning, increase lifespan, and are the most important role of recovery from traumatic experiences. I can personally adjure to this because comic-cons helped me grow as a person.
Our social brains are also the reason why then many people are interested in seeing celebrities at comic-cons. Nosotros've evolved to stay up to date on what our friends and acquaintances are upwards to. Because we see celebrities on TV, films, and websites all the time, our brains think of them every bit beingness part of our social network. Sitting in on a console with Robert Downey Jr. or getting an shorthand from Zoe Saldana is but some other way of connecting with people you care about.
But there's more to the glory stuff. Comic-cons give you the opportunity to talk straight to content creators. If you sit down in on enough panels, you'll observe a pattern – fans talk most how much a particular story means to them. Battlestar Galactica, next to beingness one of the best scifi shows of all time, means a lot to me. Information technology helped me cope with a stressful flow of my life. I also utilise it in my lectures to talk almost the psychology of gender, politics, war, and peace. That's why I go out of my way to run across actors from Battlestar Galactica at comic-cons. I desire to thank them for their part in creating a story that has brought me so much joy.
Gratitude has been described as a "super emotion" that non but helps the person expressing it but also lifts up the mood of all those who witness it. In experimental studies gratitude has been shown to undo negative emotions, make positive emotions final longer, ameliorate resilience to stress, increment helping behavior, and improve physical wellness. It'due south not just attendees who experience gratitude at comic-cons, but celebrities too. Here'southward what Joss Whedon had to say nigh attention San Diego Comic-Con:
Someone will say, "Y'all helped me through a hard time in my life with this show." For a long time I thought, "That'south then sweet and lovely they're responding to the work." And and then I realized, "Oh, I was helping me through a hard time with that show, too." I was a unlike version of them. We're about like a support grouping.
Part of collecting and cosplaying is also about expressing who you are in social situations. People buy stuff for three main reasons – to get tools, increase condom, or build an identity. Buying toys, t-shirts, posters, and collectibles communicates to the globe who we are and what we care about (though sometimes we tin get carried away). That'south also why people cosplay – it's a public celebration of a character that means something to you. For more on that, check out Andrea Letamendi and Robin Rosenberg's research on the psychology of cosplay.
The Bad: Comic-cons exhaust your trunk, mind, and wallet
Comic-cons are exhausting experiences.
People are on their feet all day, walk miles across a convention middle floor, and eat bad (and overpriced) convention heart nutrient. Lots of attendees get dehydrated considering they just don't get plenty water. All of this makes people feel weak, dizzy, and confused.
Combine physical exhaustion with massive crowds and it makes sense why and so many people feel stressed at comic-cons. Anxiety at comic-cons can exist triggered by thinking that yous take no where to escape to, feeling like it's hard to breath, beingness stuck in a crowded space, and hot flashes or common cold chills. People with an anxiety disorder, especially panic disorder or agoraphobia, might have an especially difficult time (for a good discussions about this, check out Wil Wheaton's web log).
The overall convention experience can wear you down. New York Comic Con 2010.
Most of the time, if you stick with the situation long enough the anxious feeling will disappear. Sometimes all you need is a intermission, some water, or a snack. If the convention offers it (like PAX East did this year), take advantage of the wellness rooms for a break from the crowds. If the feelings don't disappear and these types of situations are always hard for you lot, and so you might want to consider additional assist before your next comic-con risk.
In that location's too the horror of waiting in a lot of very long lines. Inquiry has shown existence bored while in line, not knowing how long you're going to exist in a line, and non knowing if you lot're going to go far into the matter you're waiting for makes people agitated. This stuff happens ALL THE Fourth dimension at comic-cons. I waited 2 hours at New York Comic Con to see a Walking Dead panel. I didn't get in, was really upset, and felt like I wasted my afternoon.
Everything at a comic-con has a long expect. WonderCon 2013.
Turns out how you feel at the very end of a line is very important – if the line speeds upwards or information technology took less time than anticipated, you feel really good about the experience no matter how long you waited. If the line ends badly, you're going to be very upset at the people responsible. Disney has mastered this kind of stuff – they advertise longer wait times than reality so yous call up the line went past faster than it did, their queues are total of entertaining stuff so you're not bored, and the length of a line is always hidden and so people aren't turned off by the sight of an enormous slow moving line. Comic-cons could benefit from copying Disney'southward tactics.
Want to avoid the drain of lines? Find something to occupy yourself (similar comic books). Or better yet, make a friend by talking to the person adjacent to yous. Not only does is that person besides excited about any yous are waiting for, merely lines feel similar they're moving faster when y'all're with a buddy.
I cope with long lines by getting to know the people effectually me. San Diego Comic Con 2013.
Some of the longest lines at comic-cons are to purchase sectional products. These are usually collectibles that are in express supply and just available at the convention. These situations make yous experience scarcity, like you don't have as much of something you need. Scarcity of annihilation, whether it's a ticket to the convention, an exclusive activeness figure or a variant cover, literally gives united states FOMO (fright of missing out). We believe exclusive items are very important, we constantly think nigh them, and our willpower drops when we are around them. Scarcity is part of our brain's basic software – if something near the states is important and rare, we've learned to take reward of information technology at present considering this opportunity might non come once more. It'due south the same stuff that goes into the psychology of Black Friday (the biggest shopping day in America).
How exercise yous attend comic-con without draining your wallet? Practise you research and check out comic-con exclusives way earlier the convention. Make a listing of what you really desire and then set aside some actress money for impulse buys. If yous want to stick to your budget, go on cash in your wallet and hide your credit card for emergency utilize just. When y'all've got everything on your list and yous're out of cash, leave the exhibit hall.
The Ugly: People can do horrible things in large groups
It's easy to feel lost in a crowd at comic-cons. New York Comic Con 2012.
People are capable of doing very ugly things when they feel anonymous in a large group.
Over the concluding few years, there's been a lot of word nigh harassment at comic-cons. At 2013's New York Comic-Con, a TV crew harassed a series of mostly female person cosplayers. Just a few months ago, a sexist t-shirt labeled "I like fangirls how I like my coffee – I hate coffee" was plant at WonderCon. Then in that location's the abiding unwanted physical contact and exact harassment that makes it unsafe for many women to cosplay. None of this is specific to comic-cons, information technology's function of a larger sexism trouble in the geek community (and it's a lot worse online).
Bank check out Jennifer Landa's awesome "fake geek girl" satire:
Why does this kind of stuff happen at comic-cons? Very large gatherings similar the big comic-cons (San Diego & New York Comic-Con), concerts (Coachella), parades (Mardi Gras), and sporting events (World Cup) tin lead to deindividuation. People feel anonymous, like they're a part of a oversupply and not an individual person. This makes information technology easier for people to exercise stupid things because they're not worried about what other people will call up of them. It also makes people very emotional and hands influenced by what others are doing. Deindividuation is a lot worse when drugs or alcohol are involved (which is a problem at concerts, parades, and sports, not comic-cons). Lack of sleep tin can besides increment the hazard of deindividuation (that is a problem at conventions).
Deindividuation isn't necessarily a bad affair. It all depends on what's happening around you lot. If someone is in danger, a few people standing up to help could pb to a surge of support from a oversupply. Only if no i stands up against harassment, others will join in and the problem continues. For the states to remove this ugly beliefs from conventions, nosotros accept to engage the whole geek community and make it articulate that harassment won't be tolerated. The science hither is definitive – all it takes is 1 person to speak up against harassment in a crowd to change the entire dynamics of the grouping.
When it'south proficient, it's cracking! When it's bad, it's still pretty good.
Yes, bad things can happen and the whole experience of comic-con is exhausting. But when you read what people remember near about comic-con, they're powerful examples of gratitude, altruism, and comradely. Comic-cons help people connect, be true to themselves, and grow. The all-time cons, like San Diego Comic-Con or DragonCon, expand to citywide celebrations. But even the small neighborhood conventions requite you a chance to meet cool people. That's why I love the current explosion of comic-con culture – they're making the world a meliorate place. Every bit Neil deGrasse Tyson said:
"If Comic-Con people ruled the world, the future would be invented daily and warfare would be cypher more than bar fights with toy lightsabers. That is the world I want."
Source: http://brainknowsbetter.com/news/2014/5/28/the-good-bad-and-ugly-psychology-of-comic-con
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