Everyone can become a hero. How to go along the “simple hero’s path”, Philip Zimbardo told TED in his speech.
Philip Zimbardo, a well-known social psychologist, author of the "prison experiment", says that becoming a hero is easy. A hero is an ordinary person, we are you.
We get a chance to become a hero in a new situation when habitual stereotypes of behavior and rituals of actions are not included. Therefore, as Philip Zimbardno says, one needs to “think and act.”
In any unfamiliar situation, we have three ways:
- Become an evil, anti-hero. And evil, according to Zimbardo, is an abuse of power and impunity.
- Pass by evil, ignore, do not interfere. And then we indulge evil with our non-intervention.
- Or become a hero, that is, resist evil, intervene.
Everyone should say to himself: “Humanity is my business!” - and resist evil. This is the way of the hero.
So, to become a hero, you must act in accordance with two key criteria:
- Act when everyone is inactive.
- Act for the common good, not for your own sake.
According to Philip Zimbardo, to become a hero, you need to become abnormal. This is because the hero always goes against the majority, against the current, against the crowd.
Everyone must become a hero, waiting for the situation in which he can prove himself. This is the "path of simple heroes." Indeed, as Philippe Zimbardo says, life can give only one chance, and if you miss it, it will be forever.