Monthly Archives: April 2020

Heroism Science: Call for Papers, Special Issue: The Heroism of Whistleblowers

Activist Heroes

Heroism Science: Call for Papers, Special Issue

The Heroism of Whistleblowers

Edited by Ari Kohen, Brian Riches, and Matt Langdon

Whistleblowers speak up with “concerns or information about wrongdoing inside organizations and institutions.” As such, whistleblowing “can be one of the most important and difficult forms of heroism in modern society” (Brown, 2016 p. 1). Heroism requires altruistic motivation to benefit non-relative others at the risk to the self; thus, while some acts of whistleblowing are not motivated by the altruistic desire to help others, whistleblowers can act heroically and make dramatic impacts on organizations and situations to benefit the lives of others. While whistleblowers have been categorized as heroes for at least a decade (Franco, Blau, & Zimbardo, 2011), there is still little research into this category of  heroic behavior.

The majority of research on whistleblowers exists in the fields of business ethics, management, law,   healthcare, public administration, and psychology. But there is currently not enough empirical work on whistleblowers as heroes. As such, Heroism Science will publish a special issue devoted to the topic of the phenomenon of whistleblowing and whistleblowers as heroes. Our goal is to increase scholarship and understanding of whistleblowers through the lens of heroism science. Submissions are welcome from diverse fields including psychology, sociology, cross cultural studies, political science, history, the humanities, philosophy, popular culture studies, and international relations. All papers will be considered and priority will be given to empirical papers discussing new qualitative and/or quantitative evidence. Additionally, all papers will be sent out for peer review from at least two relevant experts in the field.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

  • Challenges that whistleblowers face in government as compared to industry or care services (nurses, elder care)
  • Rank, social supports, organizational cultures, and other factors that make whistleblowing easier or more difficult
  • “Everyday” whistleblowers who make less publicized changes such as getting an organizational policy changed, created, or getting a supervisor dismissed. Similar to “everyday heroes” who risk their physical safety, how common are the “everyday whistleblowers” and what do they look like?
  • Ways in which businesses and other organizations can improve their cultures to reduce the need for whistleblowing
  • Whistleblowers as an organizational failure
  • Whistleblowing as heroic behavior
  • Personality characteristics of whistleblowers
  • Lifespan development of whistleblowers
  • What does life look like for whistleblowers who “fail” to achieve their goals? Do they continue to try to make change? Do they fall into despair and depression? Are they arrested? Killed?
  • Factors that lead to whistleblower “success” where change was achieved
  • Differences between social and civil heroes
  • Lessons we can learn from whistleblowers
  • Policies supportive of whistleblowers
  • Countries and cultures with strong support for whistleblowing and how they build that support

Submission Instructions

Interested authors are asked to submit a 200-300 word proposal to Ari Kohen by June 30, 2020. If accepted, completed papers are due by October 1, 2020. Completed papers should be between 5,000 and 7,000 words, including references. Please send proposals or questions to akohen2@unl.edu

Here is a link to the Heroism Science Journal

References

Brown, A. J. (2016). Whistleblowers as Heroes: Fostering “Quiet” Heroism in Place of the Heroic Whistleblower Stereotype. In Handbook of heroism and heroic leadership, eds. Allison, S. T., Goethals, G. R., and Kramer, R. M. New York: Routledge. pp. 378-398.

Franco, Z. E., Blau, K., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2011). Heroism: A conceptual analysis and differentiation between heroic action and altruism. Review of General Psychology, 15, 99-113. doi:10.1037/a0022672

The Miniseries ‘Devs’ Delivers a Delicious Dose of Heroism and Villainy

Commentary and Analysis

By Scott T. Allison

Devs is the ideal TV mini-series for people to sink their teeth into, for many reasons: (1) It’s both science and science-fiction; (2) it’s brilliant mix of psychology, philosophy, religion, and technology; (3) it tantalizes us with the mysteries of love, life, death, time, and space; and (4) it features a creepy 200-foot tall statue of a pre-school girl, which ordinarily would be cause for alarm until we realize that the girl symbolizes Devs’ paradox of our choices changing everything – and nothing at all.

I have to give writer Alex Garland tremendous credit for creating a universe, or rather a multiverse, that succeeds on many different levels. There are fabulous characters, specifically Lily and Jamie, whom we care about and who rise to the heroic challenge. Jamie hits the nail on the head in characterizing Lily as someone who doesn’t merely think about boldly taking actions – she takes bold action in situations where 99.9% of humans would not. That approach to life, dear readers, is the central essence of heroism. As her sidekick, Jamie is loyal to the core and uses his gifts to assist Lily on her hero’s journey.

But Devs is much more than a couple of heroes venturing on the mythic journey. It bestows us with an outstanding ensemble cast featuring generationally diverging Amaya coworkers Lyndon and Stewart; a charismatic, psychopathic villain in head-of-security Kenton; a pair of ethically shady billionaire tech giants in Forest and Katie; and a homeless dude named Pete who somehow worms his way into these people’s lives.

I was captivated by Devs from the get-go. We meet Sergei, and we like him. He’s got a lot of heroic potential – he’s young, smart, loving, loyal. His girlfriend Lily has these same qualities and the two appear to have a close relationship. Amaya’s top secret Devs operation is shrouded in mystery. This element of mystery is a vastly underrated aspect of heroism and villainy. What role does mystery play? It inflames our heroic imagination. It especially ignites our imagination for the presence of potential evil.

Shameless plug time – in our last book, The Romance of Heroism, my co-author George Goethals and I discuss how the ways in which human beings resolve mystery can lead to extreme and biased conclusions about heroism, and especially about villainy. Here’s a brief overview of how this can happen.

The Devs unit at Amaya is mysterious and spawns rumor and speculation, even among government oversight committees. Forest’s instructions to Sergei on this first day at Devs are mysterious – he’s told to just look at code and he’ll know what to do, eventually. The mystery and the potential darkness of Amaya is heightened when we witness Sergei lose his lunch in shock after seeing some of the code. Sergei says, “This changes everything” to which Katie replies, “This changes nothing” — an exchange that offer only the slightest of hints about Devs’ true purpose. At this point, I was hooked and pretty much binge-watched all eight episodes of Devs in two days.

Devs features outrageously high production value. The music, in particular, lends a stylish note during key scenes such as Episode 2’s slow-motion fight between Kenton and Anton in the parking garage. Nick Offerman as Forest strikes just the right balance between brilliance and eccentricity, and between good and evil. I also enjoyed Alison Pill’s striking performance. She shows off her range here, portraying a brilliant scientist named Katie whose emotional control contrasts starkly to her portrayal of a similar scientist in Star Trek: Picard. I love that Katie’s intelligence exceeds that of Forest and that she calls the shots at Amaya as much as, and even more than, Forest himself.

Devs is to be commended for having three very strong female lead characters who drive the story forward. The series takes a big chance in casting Sonoya Mizuno as Lily, our primary hero of the story. Mizuno isn’t the most charismatic actor — yet, I’m going out on a limb by saying that she is the perfect person for this part. Let’s face it, Lily is a tech nerd, and I suspect that few tech nerds have the magnetism of a Meryl Streep or a Kate McKinnon. Her low-key approach is matched by that of Jamie, her sidekick and former lover. The inability of these two characters to communicate their thoughts and feelings was sometimes torture for me to watch, but their dialogue was also realistic in a less-is-sometimes-more kind of way.

Most of all, Devs succeeds in a sublimeway at the level of storytelling, weaving together a tapestry of mathematics, the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. I enjoyed witnessing the unfolding success of the Devs’ mission, which begins with the development of brief temporal simulations that can accurately expose both past and future. Soon it becomes more than just an exercise in simulations and evolves into an actual portal into our true past and into what seems to be our exact future. I love how Devs invites us into the philosophical argument about free will versus determinism and gives us data supporting both positions. Mustn’t the true reconciliation of the free will vs. determinism duality reside in its nonduality? Lily’s final actions in the last episode demonstrate the fallibility of taking an all-or-nothing position on this issue.

Episode eight’s Devs/Deus reveal is fabulous, building on the notion that Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and others are self-anointed Messiahs. I should have discerned the connection to Deus coming, as references to the god-like self-images of silicon valley executives are peppered throughout the entire series. But I didn’t see it coming and I credit Alex Garland for giving us enough clues without sledgehammering us.

So we’re left wondering whether we’re all living a “real“ life versus existing as computer simulations of ourselves. And as Stuart says, we could be a simulation existing within countless simulations because the Devs supercomputer exists in every multiverse. And as Forest says, what difference does it make whether our existence is real or a simulation? The laws of the universe work the same either way.

The Devs miniseries is a masterpiece and is a must-see for anyone who enjoys science, science fiction, psychology, philosophy, religion, and ethics. Alex Garland throws a lot of complex, interconnected human issues at us to disentangle. Lily is  pegged as “the chosen one”, the special someone around whom the fate of the entire universe resides, the person whose choices somehow break the prognostic ability of the Devs supermachine, the women whose “death” is visually reminiscent of that of Christ on the cross.

To be fair, Devs isn’t perfect. One could be critical of Pete’s identity as a Russian agent being a little too obvious. We know that Pete isn’t really a homeless man, and so the “big reveal” at the end is hardly a big reveal. A second criticism centers on why Lily and Jamie returned to her apartment after her escape from the mental institution. They had to know that Kenton would likely hunt them down and kill them. Jamie in particular, who was terrorized and tortured earlier by Kenton, should have been extremely reluctant to sit in Lily’s apartment waiting to be Kentonized — unless, of course, Lily and Jamie’s inability to alter their fate is the very point here.

Finally, I’m still not sure why Forest was so adamantly opposed to the multiverse idea. Surely Forest had to know that the multiverse theory, championed correctly by Lyndon, was the surest path toward achieving a reunion with his daughter. Perhaps Forest could not bear any universe or existence in which his daughter dies. The vindication of Lyndon is Forest’s salvation, all made possible by Lily’s “original sin” of disobeying Deus, an act that ultimately leads to Resurrection. None of these pieces fit together perfectly but they blend together just well enough to give us much to ponder.

Overall, our hero Lily traverses the hero’s journey in exemplary fashion. Unaware of her true identity as the key to the resurrection of the universe, she has to undergo enormous suffering to come to an understanding of her central role in everyone’s fate. Her ability to exercise her freedom of choice, at a pivotal time, makes her a hero in the very best sense of the word. She enlists the aid of a sidekick and uses an avalanche of adversity to transform herself into a courageous, resilient, resourceful hero who saves the world.

Here you can check out our full Reel Heroes review of Devs.

10 Examples of Heroism Arising From the COVID-19 Pandemic

Commentary and Analysis

By Scott T. Allison

In any tragedy or crisis, you will see many people standing out and stepping up to save lives and make the world a better place. These heroic individuals can range from leaders of nations to ordinary citizens who rise to the occasion to help others in need.

During this COVID-19 pandemic, here are some prominent examples of heroism that we’ve seen:

1. Healthcare worker heroes

The doctors, nurses, and healthcare staff on the frontline are doing a remarkable job of saving lives. Some of these medical personnel are exposing themselves to risk. This is the ultimate criterion of heroism: Self-sacrifice in the service of others.

2. Heroes who respect science

Understanding the science of viral outbreaks is crucial to getting us through this pandemic with as little loss of life as possible. Here are the heroes in this regard:

  • The epidemiologists and medical scientists
  • Those who respect epidemiologists and listen to their advice.
  • Those who respect models of disease spread, social distancing, and quarantine.
  • Those who listen to scientists’ warnings about preparedness for future disease outbreaks.

3. Heroes who bring much-needed supplies and equipment to hospitals

Suppliers, manufacturers, shippers, and drivers — these people are heroically giving us what we need to care for afflicted people.

A striking example of heroism of this type was shown by the New England Patriots football team, who use their team plane to deliver 1.2 million N95 masks to the US from China to help ease shortages. In addition, the Brooklyn Nets basketball team flew in much-needed ventilators and masks to New York.

4. Heroes who support heroes

A man in Detroit decided to use the $900 he’d been saving to buy gasoline for nurses working to save lives. If we can’t save lives personally, the heroic thing to do is to support the people who do risk themselves to save lives.

5 Heroes who lead by example

Good leaders lead by example. Leaders who wear a mask, who abide by same rules as everyone else, set a heroic example for us.

6. Helpers of the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions

People are heroes when they get groceries and supplies for the elderly or for shut-ins. Keeping in contact with quarantined and elderly people over Zoom or phone is also heroic.

7. Whistleblower heroes

The US Navy relieved the Captain Brett Crozier who sounded the alarm about an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

Needing help to save his crew, Crozier sent a strongly worded letter to Navy leadership that detailed his concerns about the spread of the virus on the ship. The letter leaked to the media, and Crozier was punished for doing the right thing.

Sailors cheered when Captain Crozier departed his ship, demonstrating that the average person understands heroism when they see it. It is supremely important and even heroic to recognize heroism when we see it.

There is no more courageous hero than a whistleblower.

8. Heroism turned upside-down: Heroes in the service industry

The pandemic means that heroism now available to everyone: food deliverers, truck drivers, grocery clerks, pharmicists — they’re all indispensable right now and they’re heroes. Franco and Zimbardo (2006) were right — everyday people, not the rich and famous, are society’s true heroes.

We’re heroes just by participating in keeping society functioning.

Doing nothing and staying home is heroic because we’re not contributing to the spread of the virus. Heroism is upside-down now, as typically heroes act.  Now inaction can save lives.

9. Heroes who avoid the hoarding bias

Hoarding is a a type of OCD, caused by anxiety and depression. People have panicked and hoarded food, cleaning supplies, and toilet paper.

The solution: relaxation exercises, meditation, online counseling, and developing faith that things will get better.

We’re heroes if we don’t succumb to fear.

10. Heroes who comfort and encourage others

Please do what you can to reach out to offer comfort to people who are frightened and anxious during this quarantine. You can be a hero and save someone’s life just by the smallest of gestures, such as an encouraging text or call.

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COVID-19 Pandemic Turns Heroism Upside-Down

Commentary and Analysis

By Scott T. Allison

William James, who authored the first psychology texbook, was taken and moved by the quiet heroism in everyday working people. He noticed “the great fields of heroism lying round about” him. He was mesmerized by small, seemingly inconsequential everyday acts that, in effect, exemplified unsung heroism in everyone.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, most people did not share William James’s view of heroism. People usually reserved the label of “hero” for a few elite people, for the best of humanity, the exceptional, the iconic, the super.  We’ve tended to be very selective in our use of the “hero” label — that is, until extraordinary circumstances have wakened us to the reality that all of us have a heroic role to play in society.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one such extraordinary circumstance. Here are two ways that the coronavirus crisis has cast a heroic light on every human being.

1.  Doing nothing, staying at home

Social media memes bound regarding the heroism of staying home and doing nothing to contribute to the spread of the virus. One meme reads, “Ask not what staying home on the couch can do for you, but what staying home on the couch can do for your country.” Another reads, “Your grandparents were called to war. You are being called to sit on your couch. You can do this.”

This do-nothing route to heroism turns heroism on its head. Instead of doing something exceptional to become a hero, we can become heroic by simply doing nothing. Rather than risk our lives to save people, we are being heroic sitting on our couches, eating Cheetos, and watching Netflix.

2.  Everyday workers: Cashiers, waste collectors, truck drivers, food deliverers, and more

It turns out that William James was right all along. The people who are most crucial to the functioning of our society are not the rich and the famous, but the everyday people who work hard to bring us food, deliver goods, pick up our trash, and make life possible for us all.

I am not at all minimizing the extraordinary heroism going on right now among our health care workers, toiling in hospitals, tending to the sick, and exposing themselves to great danger. These are traditional heroes who have always deserved heroic status and who are making remarkable sacrifices to keep us healthy and safe. They are heroes with a capital “H.”

But this pandemic has cast a long-overdue spotlight on the hidden heroism of everyday people. Heroes are no longer seen as rare breeds but as pervasive among us all. Heroism, it seems, has been turned upside-down—ordinary people are now making life possible for us in ways that we never before could properly appreciate.

“Upside-down” may not be the best description for this phenomenon. We are all heroes, now, in our own small way, just by sitting at home and thus keeping the virus at bay. We are heroes simply by doing the jobs that once seemed small, but are now keeping us all afloat during this crisis. A pandemic may not turn heroism upside-down per se, but it transforms heroism into something expansive, inclusive, and universal.

I am calling this “inclusive heroism” — heroism that includes us all, because a pandemic makes us all important in keeping society healthy and running, in our own small ways.

Wrote William James:

“And yet there it was before me in the daily lives of the laboring classes. Not in clanging fights and desperate marches only is heroism to be looked for, but on every railway bridge and fire-proof building that is going up today… the demand for courage is incessant; and the supply never fails.”

References

Allison, S. T. & Goethals, G. R. (2020). The heroic leadership imperative: How leaders inspire and mobilize change. West Yorkshire: Emerald.

Goethals, G. R., & Allison, S. T. (2019). The romance of heroism and heroic leadership: Ambiguity, attribution, and apotheosis. West Yorkshire: Emerald.

James, W. (1899). Talks to teachers on psychology: And to students on some of life’s ideals. New York: Henry Holt & Co