Annotated Bibliography

Rosenburg, Robin S.  “What Is a Superhero?”  Psychology Today.  11 March, 2010. Web.  16 February 2011.

                        Robin S. Rosenburg begins her article by explaining why she is writing about superheroes.  Rosenburg explains that she chose to write about superheroes because people like to read about them because they are easy to relate to, despite their super human abilities.  Rosenburg claims that people identify with these superheroes; that they are “modeled for us, as well as after us”.  Rosenburg also continues on to define a superhero.  Rosenburg cites many definitions, the main gist being “someone with above average abilities”.  Rosenburg also states that superhero stories have certain examples of psychological phenomena.  Specifically, Roseburg cites Batman and Ironman as having something called “post-traumatic growth or stress-induced growth.”  Rosenburg goes on to say that she believes that people are interested in superheroes mainly because in some ways they are just like us, only a small step higher in strength or other ability.  Rosenburg states that people are interested in them because they are like us, and make us wonder about what we ourselves can achieve.