Anyone can become a hero. Philip Zimbardo told TED how to take the "heroic path".
Philip Zimbardo, the famous social psychologist and author of the "prison experiment", says that it is easy to become a hero. The hero is an ordinary person, this is you and me.
We get a chance to become a hero in a new situation when habitual stereotypes of behavior and rituals of action are not included. Therefore, as Philip Zimbardno says, you need to "think and act."
In any unfamiliar situation, we have three ways:
- Become an evil, anti-hero. And evil, according to Zimbardo, is abuse of power and impunity.
- Pass by evil, ignore, do not interfere. And then we indulge in evil with our non-interference.
- Or become a hero, that is, to resist evil, to intervene.
Everyone should say to himself: “Humanity is my business!” - and resist evil. This is the hero's path.
So, in order to become a hero, you need to act according to two key criteria:
- Act when everyone is inactive.
- Act for the common good, not for your own.
According to Philip Zimbardo, to become a hero, you need to become crazy. 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." After all, as Philip Zimbardo says, life can only give one chance, and if you miss it, it will be forever.
