Psychologists from the University of Massachusetts have found that people try to find the good in villains from various movies and cartoons. The scientists' study was published in the journal Cognition.

Adults and children mostly reported that the villains inside are actually good. People believe there is a mismatch between the villain's outward behavior and his or her inner, true self, the scientists noted.

The team conducted three studies with 434 children (ages 4 to 12) and 277 adults. Researchers interviewed all volunteers about how they viewed villains and good heroes.

The first work found that children viewed the actions and emotions of villains as highly negative. Previous studies have shown that children generally tend to view all people as more good. However, this did not appear to prevent them from judging the villains.

The second and third studies showed that children and adults believe that the actions of villains do not reflect their true selves. According to scientists, respondents believed that villains were actually good, despite their immoral actions.