Watching ‘Spider-Man’ Can Decrease Spider Phobia, Israeli Researchers Find
Spiderman Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — It sounds like a teenager’s dream: Could watching superhero movies have actual health benefits?
Two Israeli researchers think so. They found that exposing people to short clips of “Spider-Man” and “Ant-Man” films reduced their phobias of spiders and ants.
Menachem Ben-Ezra from the School of Social Work at Ariel University and Yaakov Hoffman of the Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences at Bar-Ilan University published their findings in the Frontiers of Psychiatry journal last week.
Study participants who were shown just seven seconds of a scene from a recent “Spider-Man” movie lowered their arachnophobia score — taken before and after the viewing — by 20 percent. They achieved a similar result by showing participants with ant phobia a seven-second clip from “Ant-Man” (which stars Jewish actor Paul Rudd).
The phobia scores did not decrease when participants were shown a scene from a general Marvel movie without insects, leading the researchers to conclude that the exposure to the specific insect-themed heroes onscreen did the trick.
A news release notes that Ben-Ezra and Hoffman are both avid Marvel movie fans.
“Such movies not only help people feel better about themselves, they provide a contra to hectic and stressful lives by showing us the true underlying spirit of one confronting his/her fears,” the release says.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
