User blog:Porfirio 739/Heroism

According to the Heroic Imagination Project, a non-profit organization that focuses on teaching people to become heroes, heroism involves a behavior or action on behalf of another person or for a moral cause. They identify four key elements of heroism:

It's voluntary It is done in the service of people or communities in need It involves some type of risk, either physical, social, or in terms of quality of life It is done without the need for recompense or material gain How do psychologists and other heroism researchers define heroism? Here are just a few of the many suggestions put forth by various experts:

"Simply put, then, the key to heroism is a concern for other people in need—a concern to defend a moral cause, knowing there is a personal risk, done without expectation of reward." (Philip Zimbardo, "What Makes a Hero?," 2011) "Although we find it true that heroism is in the eye of the beholder, we do acknowledge that people’s beliefs about heroes tend to follow a systematic pattern. After polling a number of people, we discovered that heroes tend to have eight traits, which we call The Great Eight. These traits are smart, strong, resilient, selfless, caring, charismatic, reliable, and inspiring. It’s unusual for a hero to possess all eight of these characteristics, but most heroes have a majority of them." (Scott T. Allison & George R. Goethals, "Our Definition of 'Hero,'" 2011) "Heroism consists of actions undertaken to help others, despite the possibility that they may result in the helper's death or injury." (Selwyn W. Becker & Alice H. Eagly, " The Heroism of Women and Men," 2004) Other definitions often break heroism down by types or degrees of the personal risk and sacrifice involved. Some involve grand acts such as endangering one's life in order to save another person, while others are smaller, everyday acts designed to help another human being in need.

In a piece published on the Psychology Today website, psychologist Frank Farley made a distinction between what he calls "big H" heroism and "small h heroism." Big H heroism "involves significant risk, which could include death, injury, imprisonment, or other serious or significant consequences," he explains. Small h heroism, on the other hand, "is everyday heroism, helping others, doing good deeds, showing kindness, etc., where serious harm or major consequences are not usually a result."