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What makes a hero, we all have an inner hero, argues philip zimbardo . here's how to find it..
This month, Greater Good features videos of a presentation by Philip Zimbardo, the world-renowned psychologist perhaps best known for his infamous Stanford Prison Experiment. In his talk, Zimbardo discusses the psychology of evil and of heroism, exploring why good people sometimes turn bad and how we can encourage more people to perform heroic acts. In this excerpt from his talk, he zeroes in on his research and educational program designed to foster the “heroic imagination.”
More on Heroism
Watch the video of Philip Zimbardo's Greater Good talk on heroism.
Read his essay on " The Banality of Heroism ," which further explores the conditions that can promote heroism vs. evil.
Read this Greater Good essay on the "psychology of the bystander."
Learn more about Zimbardo's Heroic Imagination Project.
What makes us good? What makes us evil?
Research has uncovered many answers to the second question: Evil can be fostered by dehumanization, diffusion of responsibility, obedience to authority, unjust systems, group pressure, moral disengagement, and anonymity, to name a few.
But when we ask why people become heroic, research doesn’t yet have an answer. It could be that heroes have more compassion or empathy; maybe there’s a hero gene; maybe it’s because of their levels of oxytocin—research by neuroeconomist Paul Zak has shown that this “love hormone” in the brain increases the likelihood you’ll demonstrate altruism. We don’t know for sure.
I believe that heroism is different than altruism and compassion. For the last five years, my colleagues and I have been exploring the nature and roots of heroism, studying exemplary cases of heroism and surveying thousands of people about their choices to act (or not act) heroically. In that time, we’ve come to define heroism as an activity with several parts.
First, it’s performed in service to others in need—whether that’s a person, group, or community—or in defense of certain ideals. Second, it’s engaged in voluntarily, even in military contexts, as heroism remains an act that goes beyond something required by military duty. Third, a heroic act is one performed with recognition of possible risks and costs, be they to one’s physical health or personal reputation, in which the actor is willing to accept anticipated sacrifice. Finally, it is performed without external gain anticipated at the time of the act.
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.
By that definition, then, altruism is heroism light—it doesn’t always involve a serious risk. Compassion is a virtue that may lead to heroism, but we don’t know that it does. We’re just now starting to scientifically distinguish heroism from these other concepts and zero in on what makes a hero.
My work on heroism follows 35 years of research in which I studied the psychology of evil, including my work on the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment . The two lines of research aren’t as different as they might seem; they’re actually two sides of the same coin.
A key insight from research on heroism so far is that the very same situations that inflame the hostile imagination in some people, making them villains, can also instill the heroic imagination in other people, prompting them to perform heroic deeds.
Take the Holocaust. Christians who helped Jews were in the same situation as other civilians who helped imprison or kill Jews, or ignored their suffering. The situation provided the impetus to act heroically or malevolently. Why did some people choose one path or the other?
Another key insight from my research has been that there’s no clear line between good and evil. Instead, the line is permeable; people can cross back and forth between it.
This is an idea wonderfully represented in an illusion by M. C. Escher, at left. When you squint and focus on the white as the figures and the black as the background, you see a world full of angels and tutus dancing around happily. But now focus on the black as the figures and the white as the background: Now it’s a world full of demons.
What Escher’s telling us is that the world is filled with angels and devils, goodness and badness, and these dark and light aspects of human nature are our basic yin and yang. That is, we all are born with the capacity to be anything. Because of our incredible brains, anything that is imaginable becomes possible, anything that becomes possible can get transformed into action, for better or for worse.
Some people argue humans are born good or born bad; I think that’s nonsense. We are all born with this tremendous capacity to be anything, and we get shaped by our circumstances—by the family or the culture or the time period in which we happen to grow up, which are accidents of birth; whether we grow up in a war zone versus peace; if we grow up in poverty rather than prosperity.
George Bernard Shaw captured this point in the preface to his great play “Major Barbara”: “Every reasonable man and woman is a potential scoundrel and a potential good citizen. What a man is depends upon his character what’s inside. What he does and what we think of what he does depends on upon his circumstances.”
So each of us may possess the capacity to do terrible things. But we also posses an inner hero; if stirred to action, that inner hero is capable of performing tremendous goodness for others.
Another conclusion from my research is that few people do evil and fewer act heroically. Between these extremes in the bell curve of humanity are the masses—the general population who do nothing, who I call the “reluctant heroes”—those who refuse the call to action and, by doing nothing, often implicitly support the perpetrators of evil.
So on this bell curve of humanity, villains and heroes are the outliers. The reluctant heroes are the rest. What we need to discover is how to give a call to service to this general population. How do we make them aware of the evil that exists? How do we prevent them from getting seduced to the dark side?
We don’t yet have a recipe for creating heroes, but we have some clues, based on the stories of some inspiring heroes.
I love the story of a wonderful nine-year-old Chinese boy, who I call a dutiful hero. In 2008, there was a massive earthquake in China’s Szechuan province. The ceiling fell down on a school, killing almost all the kids in it. This kid escaped, and as he was running away he noticed two other kids struggling to get out. He ran back and saved them. He was later asked, “Why did you do that?” He replied, “I was the hall monitor! It was my duty, it was my job to look after my classmates!”
This perfectly illustrates what I call the “heroic imagination,” a focus on one’s duty to help and protect others. For him, it was cultivated by being assigned this role of hall monitor.
Another story: Irena Sendler was a Polish hero, a Catholic woman who saved at least 2,500 Jewish kids who were holed up in the Warsaw ghetto that the Nazis had erected. She was able to convince the parents of these kids to allow her to smuggle them out of the ghetto to safety. To do this, she organized a network.
That is a key principle of heroism: Heroes are most effective not alone but in a network. It’s through forming a network that people have the resources to bring their heroic impulses to life.
What these stories suggest is that every one of us can be a hero. Through my work on heroism, I’ve become even more convinced that acts of heroism don’t just arrive from truly exceptional people but from people placed in the right circumstance, given the necessary tools to transform compassion into heroic action.
Building on these insights, I have helped to start a program designed to learn more of heroism and to create the heroes of tomorrow.
The Heroic Imagination Project (HIP) is amplifying the voice of the world’s quiet heroes, using research and education networks to promote a heroic imagination in everyone, and then empower ordinary people of all ages and nations to engage in extraordinary acts of heroism. We want to democratize the notion of heroism, to emphasize that most heroes are ordinary people; it’s the act that’s extraordinary.
There are already a lot of great heroes projects out there, such as the Giraffe Heroes Project . The HIP is unique in that it’s the only one encouraging research into heroism, because there’s very little.
Here are a few key insights from research we’ve done surveying 4,000 Americans from across the country. Each of these statements is valid after controlling for all demographic variables, such as education and socioeconomic status.
Heroes surround us. One in five—20 percent—qualify as heroes, based on the definition of heroism I provide above. Seventy-two percent report helping another person in a dangerous emergency. Sixteen percent report whistle blowing on an injustice. Six percent report sacrificing for a non-relative or stranger. Fifteen percent report defying an unjust authority. And not one of these people has been formally recognized as a hero.
Opportunity matters. Most acts of heroism occur in urban areas, where there are more people and more people in need. You’re not going to be a hero if you live in the suburbs. No shit happens in the suburbs!
Education matters. The more educated you are, the more likely you are to be a hero, I think because you are more aware of situations.
Volunteering matters. One third of all the sample who were heroes also had volunteered significantly, up to 59 hours a week.
Gender matters. Males reported performing acts of heroism more than females. I think this is because women tend not to regard a lot of their heroic actions as heroic. It’s just what they think they’re supposed to do for their family or a friend.
Race matters. Blacks were eight times more likely than whites to qualify as heroes. We think that’s in part due to the rate of opportunity. (In our next survey, we’re going to track responses by area code to see if in fact these heroes are coming from inner cities.
Personal history matters. Having survived a disaster or personal trauma makes you three times more likely to be a hero and a volunteer.
Based on these insights into heroism, we’ve put together a toolkit for potential heroes, especially young heroes in training, who already have opportunities to act heroically when they’re kids, such as by opposing bullying.
A first step is to take the “hero pledge,” a public declaration on our website that says you’re willing to be a hero in waiting. It’s a pledge “to act when confronted with a situation where I feel something is wrong,” “to develop my heroic abilities,” and “to believe in the heroic capacities within myself and others, so I can build and refine them.”
You can also take our four-week “Hero Challenge” mini-course online to help you develop your heroic muscles. The challenge may not require you to do anything heroic, but it’s training you to be heroic. And we offer more rigorous, research-based education and training programs for middle and high schools, corporations, and the millitary that make people aware of the social factors that produce passivity, inspire them to take positive civic action, and encourage the skills needed to consistently translate heroic impulses into action.
We’re also in the process of creating an Encyclopedia of Heroes, a collection of hero stories from all over the world. Not just all the classic ones and fictional ones, but ones that people from around the world are going to send in, so they can nominate ordinary heroes with a picture and a story. It will be searchable, so you can find heroes by age, gender, city and country. These are the unsung, quiet heroes—they do their own thing, put themselves in danger, defend a moral cause, help someone in need. And we want to highlight them. We want them to be inspirational to other people just like them.
Essentially, we’re trying to build the social habits of heroes, to build a focus on the other, shifting away from the “me” and toward the “we.” As the poet John Donne wrote: “No man [or woman] is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; … any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
So every person is part of humanity. Each person’s pulse is part of humanity’s heartbeat. Heroes circulate the life force of goodness in our veins. And what the world needs now is more heroes—you. It’s time to take action against evil.
About the Author
Philip Zimbardo
Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D. , is a professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University, a professor at Palo Alto University, a two-time past president of the Western Psychological Association, and a past president of the American Psychological Association. He is also the author of the best-selling book The Lucifer Effect and the president of the Heroic Imagination Project .
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Very nice information. In this world this is the very difficult question that what makes people good or evil. This post has helped a lot to understand the difference. Actually in my point of it depends upon the individual that what he/she thinks. If he/she thinks negative all the time them they became evil and thinking vice versa makes them good.
Andrew | 2:31 am, January 19, 2011 | Link
I really like reading this article because there are many individuals in the world that are heroes but are not recognized. Heroes that have help humanity progress and prosper have fought with the greatest weapons which are love, respect, sincerity, and peace. The governments that have had the greatest fear of seeing people free have always use war for colonization, genocide, and false treaties. However, love is much stronger than war, and thanks to the modern forms of communication and exchange of information, more people are united for peace and do not support or participate in colonization or human genocide. Since the start of humanity most people have use peace to progress, few have participated in war and few are participating. May peace prevail on earth!
Victor | 7:48 pm, January 29, 2011 | Link
A son raising up against an evil father. A brother standing up to a bully attacking his sibling. A stranger rallying to the side of a woman being assaulted in the street.
My sons are my strength. My reason to help others, that they may find the help they need in their lives.
pops | 9:39 am, February 3, 2011 | Link
Of course religion and eduction has a big impact on a child. But once a child is trying to live a good life (earning good karma or call it whatever you want) good things will happen to that child and he or she will recognize this.
So I think you can definitely change from evil to good.. maybe you _can be changed_ from good to evil.
Massud Hosseini | 7:28 am, September 17, 2011 | Link
Actually in my point of it depends upon the individual that what he/she thinks
asalah | 9:41 pm, September 24, 2011 | Link
“Research has uncovered many answers to the second question: Evil can be fostered by dehumanization, diffusion of responsibility, obedience to authority, unjust systems, group pressure, moral disengagement, and anonymity, to name a few.” <—What I find amazing about this statement is that anything is being branded “evil” at all. Well, maybe not. Relativism seems to be something that’s employed when convenient, disregarded when it’s not.
Kukri | 6:58 pm, November 6, 2011 | Link
This is a very comprehensive discussion on heroism. Victor makes a great point in his comment about how most heroes go unnoticed by the vast majority of people. I think that lack of notoriety is part of what it means to be a hero: doing that which is unexpected without the need for a pat on the back. quotes for facebook status
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When a sniper’s bullet hits one soldier and misses the person next to him, that alone does not make the wounded soldier more heroic.
brokesteves | 6:10 am, April 24, 2012 | Link
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Essays About Heroes: 5 Examples And Topic Ideas
Here, we’ll look at examples of essays about heroes and questions that can be used as topics for essays about an imagined or real hero.
A few different images likely come to mind when you hear the word hero. You may imagine Superman flying above the world with his superpower of flight. You may imagine a personal hero, a real person who has made a significant impact on your life for the better. You might think of a true hero as someone who has shown heroic qualities in the public eye, working to help ordinary people through difficult situations.
When writing an essay about your life hero, it’s important to consider the qualities of that person that make them stand out to you. Whether you choose to write an essay about how your mom got you through tough times and became your role model or about a political figure who made a difference in the lives of people in history, it’s key to not just focus on the person’s actions—you’ll also want to focus on the qualities that allowed them to act heroically.
Here, we’ll explore examples of hero essays and potential topics to consider when writing about a hero.
For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers
Examples Of Essays About Heroes
- 1. These Are The Heroes Of The Coronavirus Pandemic By Ruth Marcus
- 2. Why Teachers Are My Heroes By Joshua Muskin
- 3. Martin Luther King Jr.—Civil Rights Activist & Hero By Kathy Weiser-Alexander
4. Steve Prefontaine: The Track Of A Hero By Bill O’Brian
5. forget hamilton, burr is the real hero by carey wallace, topic ideas for essays about heroes, 1. what makes a hero, 2. what are the most important characteristics of heroes in literature, 3. what constitutes a heroic act, 4. is selflessness required for heroism, 1. these are the heroes of the coronavirus pandemic by ruth marcus.
“Is this what they signed up for? There is some danger inherent in the ordinary practice of medicine, but not this much. I confess: I do not know that I would do the same in their circumstances; I am not sure I am so generous or so brave. If my child were graduating from medical school, how would I deal with her being sent, inadequately protected, into an emergency room? If my husband were a physician, would I send him off to the hospital — or let him back into the house in the interim?” Ruth Marcus
Healthcare workers have had no choice but to go above and beyond in recent years. In this essay, Marcus discusses the heroism of those in the healthcare field. He delves into the traits (including selflessness and courage) that make doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers heroes.
2. Why Teachers Are My Heroes By Joshua Muskin
“Teachers are my heroes because they accept this responsibility and try extremely hard to do this well even when the conditions in which they work are far from ideal; at least most do. Our jobs as society, education systems, and parents is to do our best to be strong allies to teachers, since their success is essential to ours.” Joshua Muskin
In this essay, Dr. Muskin discusses the many challenges teachers face and what parents, administrators, and education researchers can do to help teachers support students. Muskin explains that most teachers go above and beyond the call of duty to serve their classrooms.
3. Martin Luther King Jr.—Civil Rights Activist & Hero By Kathy Weiser-Alexander
“During this nonviolent protest, activists used boycotts, sit-ins, and marches to protest segregation and unfair hiring practices that caught the attention of the entire world. However, his tactics were put to the test when police brutality was used against the marchers, and King was arrested. But, his voice was not silenced, as he wrote his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to refute his critics.” Kathy Weiser-Alexander
In this essay, Weiser-Alexander details both the traits and the actions of Dr. King before and during the civil rights movement. The author touches on King’s commitment to justice, persistence, and willingness to stand for his beliefs despite difficult circumstances.
“I remember this so vividly because Prefontaine was a hero to me, a hero in a way that no one was before, or really has been since. A British commentator once called him “an athletic Beatle.” If so, his persona was much more Lennon than McCartney. Actually, I thought of him more as Mick Jagger — or ultimately James Dean.” Bill O’Brian
A hero to many in the running world, Prefontaine’s confidence, unique style, and unmatched athletic ability have been heralded for decades. In this essay, O’Brian shares how he, as a distance runner during the era of Pre, related to his struggles and ambition.
“Burr fought against an ugly tide of anti-immigrant sentiment in the young republic, led by Hamilton’s Federalist party, which suggested that anyone without English heritage was a second-class citizen, and even challenged the rights of non-Anglos to hold office. In response, Burr insisted that anyone who contributed to society deserved all the rights of any other citizen, no matter their background.” Carey Wallace
In this essay, Wallace explains why Aaron Burr, the lifelong nemesis of founding father Alexander Hamilton, should be considered a historical hero. This essay exposes someone seen as a villain but much of society with a different take on their history.
It can be interesting to think about your definition of a hero. When describing what the term hero means to you, you may want to choose a person (or a few people) you look up to as a hero to solidify your point. You might want to include fictional characters (such as those in the Marvel universe) and real-life brave souls, such as police officers and firefighters.
A word of caution: stay away from the cliche opening of describing how the dictionary defines a hero. Instead, lead-in with a personal story about a hero who has affected your life. While talking about a public figure as a hero is acceptable, you may find it easier to write about someone close to you who you feel has displayed heroic qualities. Writing about a family member or friend who has shown up as a heroic main character in your life can be just as exciting as writing about a real or imagined superhero.
From Beowulf to Marvel comics, heroes in literature take on many different traits. When writing an essay on what trait makes a hero come alive in a short story, novel, or comic, choose a few of your favorite heroes and find common themes that they share.
Perhaps your favorite heroes are selfless and are willing to put themselves last in the name of sacrifice for others. Perhaps they’re able to dig deep into the truth, being honest even when it’s hard, for the greater good. There’s no need to list endless heroes to make your point—choosing three or four heroes from literature can be a great way to support your argument about what characteristics define heroism in literature.
When someone is named a hero in real life, we often picture them saving people from a burning building or performing a difficult surgical operation. It can be difficult to pin down exactly what constitutes a heroic act. When writing about what constitutes a heroic act, think about people who go above and beyond, performing feats of courage, honesty, and bravery to support themselves or others. When writing about what constitutes a heroic act, discuss real-life or literary examples of heroes at work.
To many people, being a hero means giving back to others. While giving something away or trading in one’s well-being for others can certainly be seen as a heroic act, many people wonder if selflessness is required for heroism or if a hero can serve the greater good in a way that also supports their happiness. When writing about whether selflessness is required for heroism, choose examples from literature and real-life to support your point.
Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.
If you’re still stuck, check out our available resource of essay writing topics .
Amanda has an M.S.Ed degree from the University of Pennsylvania in School and Mental Health Counseling and is a National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer. She has experience writing magazine articles, newspaper articles, SEO-friendly web copy, and blog posts.
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Pop Culture
Heroic acts to protect the word 'hero'.
Linton Weeks
A True Hero? President Obama presents the Medal of Honor to Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta in the East Room of the White House last November. Asked if he's a hero, Giunta said, "I am only mediocre. I'm average, and by no means did I do anything that anyone else wouldn't have done in that situation." Courtesy of the White House hide caption
Has the word "hero" been so overused that it's losing its meaning?
These three recent examples show how people are employing the term. You decide if the usage is appropriate.
On CBS News, Melissa Castellanos tells viewers that "the Super Senior who bravely fought off jewel thieves with her handbag has been unmasked. She's [a] 71-year-old grandmother ... and she's being called a hero by her community."
On NBC's Today Show , Ann Curry says: "An elderly Memphis woman ordered a Domino's [pizza] every day for the past three years. But when her calls suddenly stopped, her regular delivery driver became concerned and took action, and now that delivery driver is being hailed a hero for saving that elderly woman's life."
According to CNN, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, who spent time in prison for animal abuse, "is being honored as a hero next month at a black-tie event in Norfolk, Va., for his 'resilience in overcoming obstacles' and becoming 'a true example of life success for all to emulate,' according to event organizers."
Are these people heroes?
More Than A Role Model
Though they may be exceptional people, they might not fit the definition of hero as determined by the Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Hero Fund Commission . "Since our establishment in 1904," says Executive Director Walter F. Rutkowski, "the commission has always applied a narrow definition — or more appropriately, a classic definition — to 'hero': someone who voluntarily leaves a point of safety to assume life risk to save or attempt to save the life of another."
What's A 'Hero'?
The Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Hero Fund Commission defines a hero as "someone who voluntarily leaves a point of safety to assume life risk to save or attempt to save the life of another."
But that definition is often broadened considerably. Among the people considered heroes today are athletes and Hollywood celebrities.
What's your definition of a hero? Tell us in the comments section below.
Other people who use the word "hero" may do so in different contexts, Rutkowski says, "but since we do not have exclusive rights to the word, it is counterproductive to cringe on hearing same. We know, and would prefer to see, that 'role model' or 'positive role model' is the more appropriate term for use in many of these contexts."
People do broaden the definition — and the list. Former Secretary of Education William Bennett, in his 1997 work The Children's Book of Heroes, includes exemplary figures, such as Abraham Lincoln, Jackie Robinson and Mother Teresa.
Retired shop teacher Don Jones, who maintains the USA Hero website , defines hero as "someone who acts to help another with no thought for herself or himself or someone who is admired for achievements or noble qualities." His roster includes poet Emily Dickinson, and actors Morgan Freeman and Jodie Foster.
Today we sometimes toss the word "hero" around without thinking much about it. We use it to name TV shows. We speak of a Hollywood celebrity as our childhood hero. Alan M. Webber, a founding editor of Fast Company magazine, offers a reason that we use the term so freely.
"I suspect that if the American public's nerves weren't quite so badly frayed by all the over-attention to bad behavior, if we weren't all addicted to a culture of celebrity and extreme amplification of every news story, in other words, if the whole country were only a little bit more sane," Webber writes on The Washington Post website, "then we'd have a more modulated reaction to most events, the good, the bad and the ugly. And we'd reserve the word 'hero' ... for actions and circumstances that actually merit their application."
So maybe we need a new word for that narrow definition of heroism. Truehero, perhaps. Or epichero.
'Threshold Of Heroism'
U.S. Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf once said that "it doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle."
And the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said: "The hero draws inspiration from the virtue of his ancestors."
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Our ancestral heroes first appeared in the oral storytelling tradition. They were superhumans, almost gods, and the actions they took were mostly in the best interest of humankind. The dictionary traces the word's meaning from "a being of godlike prowess and beneficence" to "a warrior-chieftain of special strength, courage or ability" during the Homeric period of ancient Greece.
By the Encyclopaedia Britannica of 1911, the word had come to be applied "generally to all who were distinguished from their fellows by superior moral, physical or intellectual qualities."
Around that time, Pittsburgh steel magnate Andrew Carnegie set aside $5 million to recognize ordinary folks who perform extraordinary feats of heroism. In the ensuing years his Carnegie Hero Fund Commission has granted more than 9,400 awards — and nearly $33 million — to people who have risked their lives to save others.
The extraordinary exploits include pulling someone from a burning building, standing between someone and an attacking animal, rescuing a drowning swimmer, thwarting an assault on a citizen and other facing-death-to-save-a-life acts. About a fifth of the awards have been granted posthumously.
The 21-member commission is constantly receiving nominations for the next round of heroes. Another batch — of up to 23 heroes — is scheduled to be recognized on April 7.
What makes Rutkowski cringe is when "victims" are viewed as heroes, "such as when a threat is put upon a person who then combats it to save him/herself and while doing so saves others," he says.
As an example, Rutkowski points to US Airways Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, of Hudson River-landing fame. In a recent edition of the commission's newsletter, the group's president, Mark Laskow, wrote an essay about Sullenberger. In the article, Laskow quotes an interviewer from the Smithsonian Institution who asks Sullenberger, "What is your definition of a hero?"
Sullenberger replies: "My wife actually looked it up in the dictionary. We decided between ourselves that it describes someone who chooses to put himself at risk to save another."
US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger was hailed a hero by many after landing his disabled plane in the Hudson River. He, himself, though, says his actions don't meet the threshold of heroism . "Sometimes in our culture we overuse the word," he said, "and by overusing it we diminish it." Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption
He continues: "That didn't quite fit my situation, which was thrust upon me suddenly. Certainly, my crew and I were up to the task. But I'm not sure it quite crosses the threshold of heroism. I think the idea of a hero is important. But sometimes in our culture we overuse the word, and by overusing it we diminish it.'
When the engines stopped on US Airways Flight 1549 in January 2009, Laskow writes, "Capt. Sullenberger was not in a place of safety. On the contrary, he was in the same peril as the passengers whose lives he saved with his piloting skill. He did not have the opportunity to make a moral choice to take on the risk — it 'was thrust upon' him. I have no doubt that if he did have such a choice, he would not have hesitated to place himself in danger to save his passengers. That just wasn't the actual situation in which he found himself."
In addition to possessing fine piloting and philosophical skills, Laskow writes, Sullenberger "is admirably modest and self-aware. In the midst of continuing, well-earned acclaim for his cool competency, he took the measure of his act and demurred from the title 'hero.' "
And, in a broader sense of the word, that could be called heroic.
The New York Times
The learning network | what heroic acts have you performed or witnessed.
What Heroic Acts Have You Performed or Witnessed?
Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older.
- See all Student Opinion »
Last month, the account of three men subduing a gunman on a Paris-bound train made headlines around the world.
What do you think goes on in the mind of people who have to decide quickly whether to risk their own safety to help others? Have you ever been in that situation?
In the Opinion essay “ The Trick to Acting Heroically ,” Erez Yoeli and David Rand write:
What causes people to risk their lives to help strangers? Recently, three young American men and a British businessman thwarted a gunman’s attack on a French passenger train, acting within seconds and at enormous personal risk. When interviewed afterward, they stressed the unthinking nature of their actions. “It was just gut instinct,” said one, in a characteristic remark. “It wasn’t really a conscious decision.” This turns out to be typical of heroes. Last year, one of us, Professor Rand, together with his colleague Ziv Epstein, conducted an analysis of recipients of the Carnegie Medal for heroism, which is awarded to those who risk their lives for others. After collecting interviews given by 51 recipients and evaluating the transcripts, we found that the heroes overwhelmingly described their actions as fast and intuitive, and virtually never as carefully reasoned. This was true even in cases where the heroes had sufficient time to stop and think. Christine Marty, a college student who rescued a 69-year-old woman trapped in a car during a flash flood, said she was grateful that she didn’t take the time to reflect: “I’m thankful I was able to act and not think about it.” We found almost no examples of heroes whose first impulse was for self-preservation but who overcame that impulse with a conscious, rational decision to help. It is striking that our brute instincts, rather than our celebrated higher cognitive faculties, are what lead to such moral acts. But why would anyone ever develop such potentially fatal instincts? One possible explanation is that in most everyday situations, helping others pays off in the long run. You buy lunch for a friend or pitch in to help a colleague meet a tight deadline, and you find yourself repaid in kind, or even more, down the road. So it’s beneficial to develop a reflex to help — especially because the cost to you is usually quite small. It is also possible that there is a benefit to developing a reputation as someone who helps without thinking: You are treated as more trustworthy, precisely because you won’t deliberate your way out of helping when doing so entails considerable personal risk. For heroic instincts to arise this way, the benefits must ultimately outweigh the costs — including the risk of the very rare but very dangerous situation (e.g., subduing a gunman).
Students: Read the entire essay, then tell us …
— Have you ever experienced anything similar to what is described in the essay? If so, what?
— What is your reaction to the idea that people act heroically because “helping others pays off in the long run”?
— Does that idea support or contradict your concept or heroism?
— Do you think every person has the capacity to perform a heroic act? Why or why not?
— Describe a time you witnessed someone perform a seemingly selfless and spontaneous act to help someone else — or a time you have done so yourself.
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Home / Essay Samples / Life / Actions / An Act of Heroism: A Personal Experience
An Act of Heroism: A Personal Experience
- Category: Life
- Topic: Actions , Bravery
Pages: 1 (469 words)
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