ABSTRACT
Heroism is an inherently exciting topic that has unfortunately enjoyed only sporadic attention over the years from the academy. Most people enjoy hearing stories of both everyday and exceptional heroes through friends and the media; moreover, anecdotes of heroic rescues quickly spread in the public consciousness. Such stories are likely compelling because they allow us to marvel in and relish the amazingly altruistic and risky actions of our fellow man-elevating our very sense of the human capacity to give. These stories also allow us to experience vicarious relief for those rescued from harm. They may even indulge our seemingly maudlin need to process others’ potential life-threatening events, similar to the way people “rubber neck” at car accidents on the side of the road, seeking an “eyeful” and information about the sources of potential danger in life. Heroism is also inherently interesting to academics for multiple reasons. Heroic acts have been
documented throughout human history and even in other species (e.g., see de Waal, 1996; O’Connell, 1995; Preston & de Waal, 2002a), demonstrating that there is potentially something “natural” or “instinctual” about these amazing acts, which are not restricted to particular cultures, time periods, or forms of teaching (even if some traditions do encourage it more than others). However, one of the defining characteristics of a heroic act is also its infrequency. When someone performs an act of assistance that is considered “doable” by most people, or when the act is one that occurs fairly frequently, people do not consider it heroic per se, but rather classify it under the more general category of being helpful or “altruistic” (that is, benefitting another at a current cost to the self). Acts are usually only considered heroic in lay parlance when they involve a high level of risk to the helper-usually physical risk-while also providing immediate aid to someone who may have died were it not for the uncommonly helpful stranger. Thus, from an evolutionary and psychological perspective, it is not easy to explain why acts that appear so risky for the actor nonetheless would be deeply rooted in our evolutionary heritage and psychology.
