Yearly Archives: 2012

Louis Zamperini: The Unbroken Hero

War Heroes

By Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals

Human warfare brings out the worst in people. Prisoners of war, especially, can be at the receiving end of the most unimaginable brutality. During World War II, Second Lieutenant Louis Zamperini underwent horrific suffering after he survived a plane crash and was sent to several of the most brutal Japanese prison camps. Zamperini’s story is told in bold, vivid detail in Laura Hillenbrand’s book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, which was named Time Magazine’s best book of the year in 2010.

Zamperini’s heroic odyssey began with a few successful missions as a bombardier in the Pacific theater in 1942 and 1943.  In the spring of 1943, while on a routine mission searching for a lost plane, his own aircraft experienced mechanical trouble and plunged into the ocean about 850 miles west of Hawaii.  He and two other men drifted for 46 days on a raft, heading west into Japanese-held waters.  They suffered from thirst, starvation, violent storms, intense sunburn, menacing sharks, and strafing from a Japanese plane.  After floating 33 days, one of the three men died from starvation.

As much as Zamperini suffered on the raft, he would later recall that it was far preferable to what awaited him after the Japanese captured him on the 47th day near the Marshall Islands.  Already in an emaciated state from weeks on the raft, Zamperini was tortured and starved before being transferred to the notorious Ofuna Prisoner of War Camp, which was known for its egregious violations of the terms of the Geneva Convention.  At the Ofuna camp, Zamperini performed slave labor under the watchful eye of Imperial Japanese Army Sergeant Mutsuhiro Watanabe, perhaps the cruelest of all camp guards of World War II.

The level of hostility directed toward the prisoners by Watanabe was staggering.  He especially targeted Zamperini.  Watanabe was prone to violent outbursts during which he beat the prisoners daily, starved them, made them perform humiliating acts, refused to treat their illnesses, and exposed them to bitter cold.  Watanabe’s level of barbarism was so great that after the war he was classified as a Class-A war criminal.  The punishment heaped on Zamperini’s mind and body at the hands of Watanabe was extraordinary.

In one striking example of Watanabe’s sadism, Zamperini was once ordered to hold an extremely heavy wooden beam above his head.  He could barely raise it. Watanabe told a guard to strike Zamperini in the face with a gun if he dropped the beam.  No one expected Zamperini, in his weakened state, to hold it aloft for more than a few minutes.  Watanabe waited for Zamperini’s quick and inevitable failure.  Minutes ticked by.  Then a half hour.  Zamperini recalls the intense pain but also the fierce resolve not to let Watanabe defeat him.  After 37 minutes elapsed, Watanabe grew so frustrated waiting that he charged Zamperini and slammed his fist into the prisoner’s stomach, sending them both toppling to the ground.  Zamperini’s bold act of strength and defiance gave great inspiration to the throngs of POWs who witnessed the event.

But these moments of triumph were few and far between.  By August of 1945, Zamperini was near death, suffering from starvation, exhaustion, dysentery, and beriberi.  The dropping of the atomic bombs and Japan’s surrender soon thereafter saved Zamperini and other prisoners, all of them walking skeletons, who somehow managed to cling to life.

Because Zamperini was presumed dead, the reunion with his family was especially poignant.  He slowly regained his physical strength, but he suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder.  Each night in his dreams, Zamperini was haunted by images of Watanabe beating him.  Zamperini was agitated, depressed, and unemployed.  To soothe his pain, he turned to alcohol and was consumed by revengeful thoughts of returning to Japan to murder Watanabe, the man who ruined his life.

During this emotionally tumultuous period, Zamperini fell in love with a young woman named Cynthia Applewhite, and they married in 1946. Cynthia was aghast at the level of Zamperini’s emotional pain.  One day in 1948 she convinced him to attend a speech given by a young Reverend named Billy Graham.  Zamperini was transfixed by Graham’s message of forgiveness.  He made a life-changing decision to turn his life over to God and to forgive his Japanese captors, even Watanabe.  Zamperini traveled to Japan in 1950 to communicate his forgiveness to his former prison guards, now in prison.  The trip went well, but unfortunately Watanabe was nowhere to be found.  The cruelest of prison guards in all of World War II had somehow evaded capture.

Zamperini’s religious conversion helped him overcome his emotional scars and lead a happy, productive life.  After enduring a plane crash, weeks without food and water on a raft, and appalling treatment at illegal prison camps, Zamperini found a way to survive and even thrive afterward.  His military service to his country, by itself, made him a great hero.  His remarkable resilience as a POW has made him an inspiration to millions.  Today, at the age of 95, he still draws big crowds as a motivational speaker.  In Laura Hillenbrand’s words, Louis Zamperini is indeed a man unbroken in mind, in body, and in spirit.

Do We Expect Too Much From Our Heroes?

Commentary and Analysis

By Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals

In a recent New York Magazine article, Frank Rich argues that no one should have been surprised at the downfall of highly decorated U.S. Army General and CIA Director David Petraeus.  After the reputational demise of so many heroes before him — Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, and Joe Paterno, to name a few — why should we have expected anything different from Petraeus?

According to Rich, “What’s really shocking about the Petraeus affair is not Petraeus’s affair but the fact that once again, we were taken in by a secular plaster saint who turns out to bear only a faint resemblance to the image purveyed by the man himself and the mass media that abetted his self-glorification.”

Rich’s essay raises many interesting questions:  Why do people we admire tend to succumb to repeated moral failings? Do we expect moral perfection from those who show great competence in one sphere of life?  Why do we conveniently overlook the obvious fact that all human heroes are inevitably as human as they are heroic?  And then why do we seem to punish heroes more for their human foibles than we do non-heroes?

Prior to their downfall, we personally never imagined Woods, Armstrong, or Petraeus to be perfect individuals.  Perhaps people are too quick to assume that greatness in one realm implies (however naively) greatness in all realms, including — and perhaps especially — morality. Our thirst for heroes may be so urgent that we cannot help but harbor unrealistic impressions of their universal virtue.  In our first book on heroes, we discuss how the higher standards we hold for heroes make it easier to topple them from their pedestals.

Rich also reminds us of the often-heard speculation that ever since the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s, public figures’ misdeeds are sought out by the media rather than covered-up by them.  Untarnished heroes of yesteryear, such as George Washington, JFK, and FDR, were probably as riddled with flaws as were Paterno and Patraeus.  The media of their day simply placed a higher priority on building heroes than on tearing them down.  We recommend Susan Drucker’s book, American Heroes in a Media Age, for a cogent analysis of this topic.

Lost in all the media frenzy about the many recent fallen heroes is the observation that many, many extremely successful people (and heroes to many) continue to maintain almost impeccably clean moral reputations.  These individuals come from all walks of life and a partial list of them includes Coach K at Duke University, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Meryl Streep, Stephen Hawking, and Michael Jordan.  Frank Rich’s essay suggests that it may only be a matter of time before at least a few of these icons crumble.  We hope he’s wrong.

The Seven Paradoxes of Heroism

Commentary and Analysis

By Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals

In our research on the subject of heroism, we’ve been surprised at times about the ways in which people choose and maintain their heroes.  Here we present these surprises to you in the form of seven paradoxes.  Maybe these paradoxes don’t strike you as surprising at all, but to us they reveal an unexpected psychological richness about the hero concept.

Paradox 1:  The truest heroes are fictional heroes.  When we’ve asked people to list their heroes, a third of the heroes listed were the products of someone else’s imagination.  In fact, many people listed only fictional characters as their heroes.  When we asked one respondent to explain why he listed only fictional heroes, his reply was very revealing:  “The only real heroes are fictional heroes.”  This mindset prompted us to conduct a study in which participants were asked to rate the overall “goodness” of a group of randomly selected heroes and villains. We found that fictional heroes and villains were rated as more definitely good or bad than their real-world counterparts. Fictional heroes are indeed “truer” heroes.

Paradox 2:  We all agree what a hero is, but we disagree who heroes are.  Our research has shown that most people agree that heroes are supremely moral, supremely competent, or both.  But people rarely share the same heroes. Thus people who agree about the definition of heroes often vehemently disagree about specific choices of heroes.  A telling example occurred when a colleague of ours loved our definition of heroes, agreed with our philosophy that “heroism is in the eye of the beholder”, but then fervently questioned our decision to include actress Meryl Streep as an example of a hero.  It didn’t matter that we pointed to the fact that some of our survey respondents listed Streep as their hero.  What was most important to our colleague was that Streep simply didn’t appear on her own personal list of hero exemplars.

Paradox 3:  The most abundant heroes are also the most invisible.  An important type of hero is called the Transparent Hero, who does his or her heroic work behind the scenes, outside the public spotlight.  Transparent heroes include teachers, coaches, mentors, healthcare workers, law enforcement personnel, firefighters, and our military personnel.  People judge the transparent hero as the most abundant in society, by far.  Transparent heroes are everywhere.  Yet they largely go unnoticed and are our most unsung heroes.

Paradox 4:  The worst of human nature brings out the best of human nature. This paradox probably needs little explanation. Human-caused catastrophes such as the holocaust, the September 11th attacks, and the Virginia Tech shooting tragedy were fertile soil from which great acts of heroism blossomed.  One year ago exactly, when Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot outside a supermarket in Arizona, heroes stepped forward to protect Giffords from further harm and to prevent the gunman from targeting others.  Stories of such heroism abound.  Villainy always begets heroism.

Paradox 5:  We don’t choose our heroes; they choose us.  There is considerable research evidence supporting the idea of inherited cognitive capacities that interact with experience to produce the ways that people think and construct their worlds. To us, the idea of inherited, universal hero narrative structures that provide a ready basis for adopting heroes seems quite plausible. Our minds may equipped with images of the looks, traits, and behavior of heroes, as well as the narrative structure of heroism as outlined in Joseph Campbell’s (1949) hero monomyth.  These archetypes may prepare us for seeing and identifying heroes. Thus our heroes may choose us as much as we choose them.

Paradox 6:  We love to build up our heroes and we also love to destroy them.  Our research shows that people are captivated by dramatic tales of underdogs who heroically prevail against the odds.  Hero construction is inspiring and offers hope to all of us.  But the reverse is also true: people also appear to crave the undoing of heroes.  In fact, we suspect that this type of schadenfreude is heightened in hero-perception.  Our studies show that our greatest heroes cannot get away with anything less than near-perfect moral behavior.  For this reason, many heroes are bound to fall from grace.  People appear to believe in, and relish, a perverse law of heroic gravity:  What goes up must come down.

Paradox 7:  We love heroes the most when they’re gone.  Many studies we’ve conducted point to a rather morbid conclusion:  As much as we love our heroes when they are around, we love them even more when they’re dead. We call this phenomenon the death positivity bias. This bias is seen in the factors that determine the perceived greatness of U.S. Presidents. Getting assassinated truly helps a president gain stature as a great leader. The greatest of our heroes must die to achieve their greatness.

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What accounts for these seven paradoxes?  For us, the concept of heroism has proven to be slippery, mysterious, and surprising. To understand the paradoxes, we introduce the term intuitive heroism, which refers to people’s naïve beliefs about the way heroism operates.  Intuitive heroism is similar to intuitive psychology or intuitive physics: What we think isn’t necessary so.  Our naïve beliefs may lead us to underestimate the idiosyncratic nature of people’s hero choices. Intuitive heroism can make us oblivious to the impact of death in promoting heroism, and it can make us blind to our desire to see heroes fall as much as our desire to see them rise.

It is the misleading nature of intuitive heroism that has prompted us to undertake a more scientific approach toward understanding heroes.  We invite you to learn more about these paradoxes at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology website.  We’ve been delighted by all the surprising findings in our studies of heroism, and we look forward to uncovering – and understanding – many more.

 References

Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2011). Heroes: What they do & why we need them.  New York: Oxford University Press.

Allison, S. T., Eylon, D., Beggan, J.K., & Bachelder, J. (2009).  The demise of leadership: Positivity and negativity in evaluations of dead leaders.  The Leadership Quarterly, 20, 115-129.

Carruthers, P., Laurence, S., & Stich, S. (2005). The innate mind: Structure and contents.  New York:  Oxford University Press.

Cialdini, R. B., Borden, R. J., Thorne, A., Walker, M. R., Freeman, S., & Sloan, L. R. (1976). Basking in reflected glory: Three (football) field studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 366-375.

Dehaene, S. (1997, October 27, 1997). What Are Numbers, Really? A Cerebral Basis For Number Sense.  Retrieved from http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/dehaene/dehaene_p2.html

Dunning, D. (2011). He turned toward the gunfire. Personality and Social Psychology Connections. Retrieved from http://spsptalks.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/he-turned-toward-the-gunfire/

Goethals, G. R., & Allison, S. T. (2012). Making heroes: The construction of courage, competence, and virtue.  Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 183-235.

Jung, C. G. (1917).  The psychology of unconscious processes.  In Long, C. (Ed.), Collected papers on analytical psychology.  London: Bailliere, Tindall, & Cox.

Jung, C. G. (1969).  Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 9 (Part 1):  Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious.  Princeton, NJ:  Princeton University Press.

Pinker, S. (1991).  Rules of language.  Science, 253, 530-535.

Simonton, D. K. (1994). Greatness: Who makes history and why. New York: Guilford Press.

The Allure of Fictional Non-Human Heroes

Fictional Heroes

By Zack Cerny, Megan McArdle, and Taylyn Hulse

Heroes in fiction are almost always human beings who perform great actions.  Often overlooked are the sizeable number of fictional characters who, despite their non-human status, show many of the most cherished qualities of our very best heroes.  Here are three such heroes:

Yoda from Star Wars

Heroes come in many shapes and sizes.  Sometimes the most unexpected hero becomes the most valiant.  The Star Wars movie franchise is filled with large and powerful heroes and villains.  It is a small, green, elfish character, though, who was the most influential of them all.

Yoda was the highest Jedi Master and was the leader of the Force.  He dedicated himself to the Force and to instructing new Jedi knights for his entire 900-year lifespan.  As he got older, his body weakened but the power of his mind increased.  In teaching new Jedi knights, he could be as comforting as a grandfather but as strict as a drill sergeant.  He adapted his style to be the teacher any Jedi knight needed.

Edward from Twilight

As can be read in Allison and Goethals’s book, Heroes: What They Do and Why We Need Them, there is a very fine line that separates a hero from a villain.  There are eight traits that describe heroes (called The Great Eight) and eight traits that describe villains (called The Evil Eight).  Interestingly, several traits can be found on both these lists — e.g., smart, strong, resilient, and charismatic.  Heroes only have two traits that villains don’t have – selfless and inspiring.  These two traits make all the difference.

It is precisely these traits of selflessness and inspiration that describe Edward, the heroic vampire of Stephenie Meyers’ Twilight series.  Edward thus represents a great departure from the evil reputation of the vampire species. In Twilight, Edward comes from a conscientious clan of vampires who have chosen not to prey on human flesh. This is not normal.  Feeding off humans is a natural instinct and even a pleasure for vampires. They are creatures who are designed to hunt humans.  But Edward chose something different.  His selflessness allowed him to find another way another way to live.  This rare restraint is what makes Edward so inspirational.

Selene from Underworld

What does it take to be a hero?  It takes courage, and above all it takes devotion to a noble cause.  Heroes are diverted from their heroic paths but by the end of their story they accomplish that which they set out to achieve.  Heroes defy the odds and make selfless decisions.  Their journey is never easy and is truly the road less traveled.

Selene from Underworld, the movie series, fits the description of a hero who takes the rarely traveled path.  Selene is dedicated to protecting a race of vampires that shuns her.  In doing so she shows true compassion for the lives of beings who are not of her same race.   Moreover, Selene inspires others with her utter fearlessness.  She remains true to her own race even when they mistreat her.  In Underworld, Selene always finds a way to emerge victorious.  Selene shows wisdom far superior to her elders, but never brags.  Ultimately, Selene inspires hope in the darkest of hours, never fears death, and does the right thing in the face of adversity.

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Zack Cerny, Megan McArdle, and Taylyn Hulse are undergraduate students at the University of Richmond.  They are enrolled in Scott Allison’s Social Psychology course and composed this essay as part of their course requirement.

Katniss Everdeen: The Underdog Hero of the Hunger Games

Fictional Heroes

By Ashley Swanson, Kelsey McKenna, & Rodney Barnes

Katniss Everdeen epitomizes an underdog hero in one of the highest grossing movies of all time, The Hunger Games, released in 2012 and directed by Gary Ross.  Katniss represents the classic underdog hero from the first minutes of the film.  She is only 16 years of age and living in one of the poorest districts in the nation of Panem, District 12.  From a young age, she had to provide for her sister and mother by hunting and trading illegally.  As the viewer can see from the beginning, nothing has ever been given to her and she has had to work that much harder than everyone else to survive a difficult life.  Despite the threat of the games, Katniss dreams of making a new life for herself and her family outside the electric fences of the District. One can’t help but be mesmerized and inspired by Katniss as she assumes the classic characteristics of a hero.

At the Reaping, Katniss’s sister, Primrose, is chosen to participate in the Games. Katniss is horrified as she realizes that her 12-year-old sister’s brutal execution will be broadcast to all the Districts as a form of twisted entertainment.  Katniss selflessly volunteers to replace Primrose, marking the first ever volunteer in the history of the Hunger Games. Katniss along with the male tribute, Peeta, are whisked to the capital where they must undergo rigorous training before they can enter the arena to fight.  When the games begin, the audience is shown the ethics and intelligence that Katniss embodies as she does everything in her power to survive the brutality of the games.  She even eludes the Capitol’s efforts to kill her, and at the same time she never harms any of the other competitors.

In selflessly volunteering, Katniss establishes the foundation of her heroic persona.  She will eventually become the voice and face of a rebellion movement against the Capitol.  The Mockingjay pin that is given to her by Prim before she leaves is seen as the symbol of strength and hope.  Later, when Katniss is being crowned victor, President Snow references the pin and Katniss looks him dead in the eye and says sweetly “Thank you. It’s from my District.” With this statement, Katniss is subtly threatening the stability of the Capitol and President Snow as a leader. It is known that the mockingjay represents a failure on the part of the Capitol.  Katniss uses this bird as her symbol of hope and perseverance as she plants the seeds of future heroic actions.

Katniss became the “girl of fire” due to her brilliant entrance during the Opening Ceremony in which she wore a special suit made of flames. This persona takes on another meaning later when the “girl of fire” is metaphorically seen as setting fire to the revolution that will eventually destroy the Capitol.  Heroes and leaders carry certain expectations that they will demonstrate charisma, energy, and magnetism. Katniss is not a charismatic person and it is very difficult for her to grasp the advice from Cinna and Haymitch to present herself as likeable and personable. Her foil, Peeta, helps her with creating her strong public identity. Katniss takes cues from Peeta and eventually is able to act accordingly with the “star-crossed lovers” script that has been created for them. She is also a very ethical and wise competitor in the Games. She refuses to kill except in self-defense. Her main focus is to stay alive and win for her sister because she knows that her distraught mother will not be able to take care of Prim.

Katniss also embodies the heroic idea that “actions speak louder than words.”  She pays tribute to Rue’s memory by decorating the young girl’s body in flowers and then giving the three fingered salute to District 11. This action in itself causes the revolt in District 11 and starts the fire of revolution that will eventually tear through Panem with a vengeance. Without a doubt, Katniss is the true embodiment of an underdog hero, a 16 year old girl who is willing to sacrifice her life for the survival of her family, a young woman who singlehandedly lights the flame that will take hold of an entire nation.

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Ashley Swanson, Kelsey McKenna, & Rodney Barnes are undergraduate students at the University of Richmond.  They are enrolled in Scott Allison’s Social Psychology course and composed this essay as part of their course requirement

Katelin Peterson: An Inspirational and Heroic Student-Athlete

Unsung Heroes

By Paige Venables, Jess Hollis, and Chelsea Davies

Katelin Peterson, a former student athlete at the University of Richmond who majored in psychology and served as captain for the varsity women’s field hockey team, has left a legacy and continues to inspire an ever-growing list of individuals. Besides her impressive resume of athletic and academic accomplishments, Katelin brings a smile and a positive attitude to any situation no matter how bad the circumstances. She believes wholeheartedly in Christianity and lives by her faith, always upholding good morals and values. Katelin is a remarkable leader in the classroom, on the field, and in her faith. She was involved with Fellowship of Christian Athletes and often inspired others by sharing her testimony at Fellowship of Christian Athlete events.

During the summer of 2011 her team received an email explaining that Katelin was in the hospital suffering from a serious blood infection known as septicemia. She was in and out of the hospital for weeks, receiving treatments and tests yet continued to stay positive and fight to get better in time for the fall season. Septicemia often results in death due to gradual organ failure but Katelin never questioned God’s plan and beat the dire odds against her, eventually making a full recovery. When she returned to the University of Richmond she still was able to perform well and lead the team. In order to prepare for the grueling two-a-day practices Katelin had to complete her summer workouts in front of a fan because sweating was dangerous for her due to the nature of the infection. She didn’t dwell on her own setbacks but continued to work hard not only for herself, but also as a mentor for the rest of the team. She led the field hockey team to an Atlantic 10 Conference Championship Title and a bid to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and received academic and athletic Atlantic 10 All-Conference Honors.

Since her graduation from the University of Richmond, Katelin has become an advocate and volunteer for Fellowship of Christian Athletes, spreading her story and her faith to new generations of young athletes. Her goal is to go into missionary work in the future. Her chosen profession is as noble and uplifting as she is.

Katelin is a member of the University of Richmond field hockey team whose presence is sorely missed by all. On the first day of fall 2012 preseason, Katelin surprised the entire team by traveling all the way from her home in sunny California to be at the University of Richmond at the 7 o’clock morning practice where the team was about to run their first and most dreaded fitness test. Upon seeing cheerful and smiling face teammates reacted with powerful emotions, many crying and laughing out of joy and disbelief. It was only fitting that Katelin would get the team through their most difficult first day.

Katelin has exuded the best qualities a person can possess. Anyone who knows her has been touched by her presence and continues to remember her effervescent personality fondly. She is both a role model and a hero for any who hear her story.

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Paige Venables, Jess Hollis, and Chelsea Davies are undergraduate students at the University of Richmond.  They are enrolled in Scott Allison’s Social Psychology course and composed this essay as part of their course requirement.