Thursday, January 26, 2012

The Captain Who Fell into the Lifeboat | Greater Good

The Captain Who Fell into the Lifeboat | Greater Good:

An article one of us (Zeno Franco) wrote with Philip Zimbardo, “The Banality of Heroism,”advanced five key features of heroism:

  • Developing a “discontinuity detector”—that is to say becoming more mindful of situations in which conflicting information is present;
  • Being willing to accept some interpersonal conflict—heroic decisions are often controversial;
  • Remaining aware of a more distant time horizon and what the consequences of our actions in this particular moment may mean in the future;
  • Resisting the urge to rationalize inaction and to justify evil deeds as somehow righteous; and
  • Learning to control fear—heroism is not the absence of fear, but the ability to act despite it.

0 comments: