Fostering Heroism in Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Students

Abstract

This study empirically evaluated the potential effect of a training program created by The Hero Construction Company designed to foster heroism in children. The presentation was geared toward encouraging young children to think about taking action when faced with moral dilemmas. The intention of the material is to encourage heroic acts and prosocial behavior. Student participants learn about heroism, and are asked to imagine themselves behaving heroically, and to think about who their heroes are and why. The curriculum asks students to consider their reactions to morally complex situations, and seeks to empower them with the idea that they are “heroes in waiting,” and can stand up to injustices they may witness, such as bullying. Hypotheses were developed to evaluate the potential effect The Hero Construction Company’s presentation has on courage levels in children who participate in the training. The study sought to answer the primary question: Can heroism be learned, remembered, and then utilized over the child’s lifetime? Sixty-two fourth- and fifth-grade students in Michigan attended the Hero Construction Company’s presentation. They were administered the Courage Measure for Children (CM-C) immediately prior to the presentation (Time 1), immediately following (Time 2), and 30 days following (Time 3). The researcher hypothesized that the students’ self-reported levels of courage would increase between prepresentation and postpresentation, and prepresentation and 30 days postpresentation. Results indicated a significant increase in the children’s courage levels for both time points.

The State of the Art (and Science) of Heroism: Growth, Paradigms, and Future Directions in an Emerging Field

“…Elizabeth Heiner (2018) has published excellent work examining the effectiveness of hero training programs. From her analyses, students of these training programs exhibit significantly more self-reported courage compared to control groups who lacked such training.…”

Ethical Concerns of Heroism Training

“…There are also free lesson plans available for teachers and parents to download and deliver on their own (Kohen & Sólo, 2019 organization has a broad approach, including social psychology, comparative literature, bystander intervention, and the provision of heroic exemplars. Early classroom work by the Hero Construction Company was shown to increase student levels of courage on a self-report scale for up to a month after the training (Heiner, 2018).…”

“…Most participants of these programs are students between the ages of 10 and 20. Anecdotal and empirical evidence suggests that these programs may create more courageous and prosocial people (Heiner, 2018;Kohen & Sólo, 2019), however there is very little discussion in the emerging academic field of heroism science about the potential ethical concerns of training minors to be heroes (Beggan, 2019;Franco & Zimbardo, 2016;Franco et al, 2017). With the growth of heroism science scholarship, it would be wise to examine and offer best practices for the ethical training of heroism with minors.…”