The Personal Hero Technique: A Therapeutic Strategy That Promotes Self-Transformation and Interdependence

Abstract

This article introduces and provides initial qualitative support for the effectiveness of the personal hero technique (PHT), a second-order change strategy rooted in humanistic-existential psychology that builds on and practically applies the emerging heroism science literature. Specifically, I ask clients to identify a hero/heroine. Then I ask them to identify five characteristics that they admire in that person, five ways in which they see themselves as similar to that person, and five things they can do to become more like that person. During debriefing, I engage in dialogue with the clients regarding how they may apply insights gleaned from the exercise in the interest of promoting self-reflection and developmental maturation/transformation as well as other-awareness and relational connectedness. In this article, I survey the theoretical/philosophical basis of the PHT and its connections to humanistic-existential principles and other extant heroism literature. Then I describe how to implement the PHT as well as discuss its effectiveness using two case illustrations. Finally, I provide suggestions for future research on the PHT in a variety of contexts.

Eupsychian Versus Authoritarian Leadership: Existential–Humanistic Underpinnings and Empirical Support

“…Furthermore, to supplement the relatively limited body of explicitly humanistic leadership literature to date (e.g., Beshai, 2012; DuBose, 2020; McWhinney, 1984; Miller et al, 2010; Raskin, 2020; Rego et al, 2008; Saiter, 2009; Schott, 1992), in preparing this article, we intentionally strived to build bridges between existential–humanistic and mainstream psychology by drawing from the latter to provide empirical support for Maslow’s theorizing in the spirit of Bland (2019), Bland and DeRobertis (2020), and Kaufman (2020). In so doing, we have (a) further demonstrated that his ideas on eupsychian leadership “appear to be more realistic than some criticisms regarding their allegedly utopian aims would suggest” (Rego et al, 2008, p. 187) and, therefore, (b) further contributed to an emerging body of literature that serves to clear up misconceptions about Maslow (see also Bland & DeRobertis, 2019, 2020; Compton, 2018; Henry, 2017; Hoffman, 2017) as an antidote to the “recurrent Maslow bashing that one finds in the literature” (Winston et al, 2017, p. 309).…”

Alleviating state boredom through search for meaning and affirmation of workplace heroes

“…A major difference between our study and the study of Coughlan et al (2017) was how heroes were identified. Instead of using predetermined heroes (Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi and Neil Armstrong), our research permitted the identification of heroes by the research participants using the Personal Hero Technique (Bland, 2019) based on work by Kinsella, Igou and Ritchie (van Tilburg and Igou, 2017), but limited the scope to the workplace. This technique was used to develop the Hero Affirmation Scale, which was used by our study.…”

“…Additionally, to mitigate disadvantages associated with a quantitative approach, such as questions being close-ended that force respondents to answer in a particular way, open-ended questions were added to allow our respondents to answer freely. These structured questions were drawn from the Personal Hero Technique of Bland (2019) and the skills list of Marques (2013) to identify the characteristics of workplace heroes. Respondents were asked to identify the five characteristics they most admire about a work hero: first, in an open-ended question that enquired reasons for admiration and second by selecting five qualities from a pre-existing list of qualities (Marques, 2013).…”

The existential obituary writing technique for emerging adults: Thematic and content analyses.

“…Consistent with existential-humanistic therapy’s focus upon transformation of self and existential liberation (Schneider & Krug, 2017), obituary writing may be classified as a strategy that promotes second-order change —that is, a deep restructuring of self that results in long-term, core-level shifts in and expansions of one’s perspective of oneself, one’s lifeworld, and one’s concerns (Bland, 2013; 2019; Fraser & Solovey, 2007; Hanna, Giordano, Dupuy, & Puhakka, 1995; Murray, 2002). Second-order change entails actively creating a new way of being by identifying and remediating underacknowledged and underactualized capacities within oneself to bring life domains into balance and to commit to a more promising future despite the inevitability of limitations beyond one’s control (Schneider & Krug, 2017).…”