Are humans inherently selfish? A quirky psychological study opens up a centuries-old debate about human nature.
How Batman makes us better behaved
“Batman Effect”: The term used for the boost in focus children get from imagining they are Batman. Glossary
Psychologists - Scientists who study the mind and behaviour.
Milan - A city in northern Italy.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau - An 18th Century Swiss philosopher whose book Reveries of the Solitary Walker extolled the virtues of being alone in nature.
Thomas Hobbes - An English philosopher who is regarded as one of the founders of modern political theory.
Arthur Schopenhauer - Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) was a German philosopher who argued that human beings are driven by powerful desires and instincts, and that life is full of unavoidable suffering.
Enlightenment - An intellectual movement of the eighteenth Century that ruthlessly criticised religion, traditions and inherited privilege.
Adam Smith - An 18th-Century Scottish economist often known as the "father of economics".
Evolutionary biologist - Somebody who studies the way populations of living things have changed over time.
Altruism - A devotion to or selfless care for others.