Defining Heroes Through Deductive and Inductive Investigations

ABSTRACT

Individuals in different contexts are referred to as “heroes” for seemingly different reasons. To better understand how and why people use this term, three studies were conducted. Approaching the question deductively, individuals defined the term “hero” and responses were coded according to existing definitions. Then, a definition of hero was sought inductively by examining the specific reasons participants cited in choosing their heroes. A third study further examined individuals' descriptions of their heroes in light of their own self views. The findings across these studies extend our understanding of the term hero and suggest that the use of the term is based both on the specific features of any heroic figure, as well as on the self views of the person identifying the hero.

Keywords:

• heroes
• identity
• possible self
• self

Notes

1. Non-hero referents were one of three figures from the original list of 15 that were the most commonly selected hero referents: Martin Luther King Jr., Michael Jordan, or Princess Diana. In order to be presented as a non-hero referent, the figure received a score between 3 and 6 on the original 9-point scale participants completed. Each of these figures also served as a hero referent for participants in the other (hero-rating) experimental condition. Using this procedure insured that specific referents would be equivalent in terms of accomplishment or potentially “heroic” qualities across the hero and non-hero groups but would differ in the personal judgments of individual participants in each group.