Bravery And Heroism Essay

surviveness And Heroism EssayIntroductionHumans save been attracted by tales of fearlessness, heroism, resolution from time immemorial. It is fewthing in forward bent of mind which presents us admire the absurd, makes us carrel up take nary(pre noneinal)e of something which on the first look looks crazy, exclusively on further epitome throws up a recital of grit and determination. It is this human infatuation with the macho mortala that made psychologists behavioural scientists delve deeper into the behavioural attri exclusivelye which mirrors this all bravery. bravery tummy be simply defined as being brave or recogniseing displaying courage. In heroic parlance, its being able to construction deal with take chances or devotion without flinching or batting an eyelid. Also known as Courage, fortitude, leave, and intrepidity its been associated with various characters two in mythology business parlance. But its not just their domain the putting surface man in his demeanor time comes across various much(prenominal) situations more often than not displays varying degrees of bravery grit. It is this communal man that I am interested in. Being brave doesnt mean being unafraid(predicate) it or else means a person does what he should do, despite the literal Damocles sword on your head.It is not practically for human fancy but for the very fact that bravery is an attribute very necessary for the brush up functioning of the human world today, has heightened its importance for psychologists. You take the case of a policeman standing up to criminals, naxals, or the common man in an office refusing bribes or the case of a woman braving nationalistic males to rise up the corporate ladder, in all these cases we baffle how the world survives because of a few respective(prenominal)s who scram inherent courage to brave odds and emerge successful. It suffices to say that bravery as a behavioral distinction is gameyly alluring, and peo ple tend to look in awe at those who visibly possess it, but what we should realize is bravery is something which is inherent comes in differing forms origins hence its teach has to encompass all such factors. Bravery in its various forms after all keeps us going, keeps this world inhabitable.CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKBravery is a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing business organisation, but unmatchable often misconceived notion of people is that being brave means being fearless. Being brave doesnt me you dont fear the adversity it means you have the strength of will to overcome whatever fear you have.Bravery as a concept can apply to a fairly large number of instances, therefore a quick classification of bravery will help us look at its various aspects in greater detailPhysical bravery It entails acting or doing something in spite of possible wrong that can occur to ones body. The heroic stories of the past or the instances where we act for ou r beliefs even out in the face of personal danger argon a typical model of this.Moral bravery It involves acting in a manner that will enhance or reinforce ones beliefs to be good and true. This basically is in face of social disapproval and other forms of kick. In todays world, it symbolizes standing up against the over jealous khaps or the clean police.Psychological bravery It deals with acting against ones own natural urges inclinations, lining our intimate demons overcoming them. This everydayly doesnt have whatsoever societal moral implication. Examples of this can be overcoming ones addictions like drugs, tobacco addictions etcetera getting over anomalous anxieties forms of parasitic relationships.Basing on the above we reach at a working comment of bravery asBravery is a behavioral property which allows us to overcome our inhibitions, our inside(a) fears gives us the strength to do what we feel is right, irrespective of any form of backlash. It is somethin g which imbibes in us a sense of self-belief which can make us scale mountains do things which we believed we neer could.Review of LiteratureInstances of bravery have been documented in various books relating to wars corporate moves. Number the stars which won the Newbery Medal in 1990, tells the tosh of two ten category old girls, whose homeland is occupied by Nazi Germany during the second world war, it documents the hardships they faced the courage shown by their parents in shielding one of them(who was a jew) from the nazis. Broadly it describes the condition of the entire Danish countryside. It is a story of grit determination shown in face of unfathomable risk. 1In the corporate world we have the example of Citibank CEO Vikram Pandit. He is a true visionary, brave man who took over as the head of citi multitude during the credit crunch period. With steely resolve, Pandit wrote down billions of dollars, closed scores of branches, jettisoned parts of the business, cut di vidends, and slashed jobs. He wasnt done yet. Next, he tapped the sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf and Asia for nearly $30 billion, determine up a new risk-management squad. He also cut the banks exposure to the risky sub-prime market. All these measures were never easy to take, some unpopular others highly risky, it needed a man of steely character, Mr. Pandit was just that. 2Matterhorn, is closely a company of Marines who build, abandon, and retake an outpost on a remote hilltop in Vietnam. The story is told from the point of view of a young second lieutenant, Mellas, who joined the Marines for confused and vaguely patriotic reasons that are quickly left in tatters by military incompetence.3One of the ten most famous battles of the world. A handful of Sikh soldiers- 21 to be exact of the 4th Battalion of the Sikh Regiment ( then thirty-six Sikh) formed part of the British Indian Army and fought thousands of Pathans in the North Western Frontier state (now Pakistan). All 21 Sikh soldiers died in the battle as they fought to the last man and last green goddess but they did not yield even an inch of ground that they were defending. On learning of this glorious, gallant and curious action, members of some(prenominal) houses of the British Parliament rose in unison to pay homage to the great Indian soldiers. Each one of the 21 soldiers was posthumously awarded the Indian Order of Merit, the highest British gallantry award then given to Indian (equivalent to the Victoria Cross awarded to the British). 4Courage (shauriya) appears as one of the ten characteristics (lakshana) of dharma in the Hindu Manusmruti. Islam also presents courage as an important factor in facing the Devil and in some cases Jihad to a lesser extent.Courage is the self-affirmation of being in spite of the fact of non-being. It is the act of the single(a) self in fetching the anxiety of non-being upon itself by affirming itself in the anxiety of guilt and condemnation. Every cou rage to be has openly or covertly a religious root. For religion is the state of being grasped by the power of being itself. 5Empirical Study and GeneralizationI have followed the interview approach to take away the behavioral characters of a few of my conversances. I picked the people to interview on the basis of a few past events, in which they exhibited bravery in one form or another. Each interviewee had a variant tale to tell, we will analyze their cases as we progress. The basic questions which I put to them involved a gamut of intention short answer questions. Their responses were dully noted.The following is the list of questions that I put to my interviewees, some of the questions differed in words when put to different interviewees. Due to paucity of space I wont delve into the details of their cases.Did you experience any form of an internal drive to act?Was it because of the closeness with the person or was it a general sense of wrongdoing that drove you?Were you g enuine of success before you acted upon your belief?Would you describe yourself as fearless? If no then how come you overcame the fear of failing?Did you factor in the possibility of a backlash or any negative impact on your future?If you knew that the party was wrong in pickax up the fight would you have still saved them or would you have taken the moral high ground stepped back?Do you believe in victorious risks?Do you think your above trait has had an influence on your life, (success or the escape of it etc.)?When going on a leisure trip you find a person seriously wounded people about him/her having a verbal duel, would yourush him/her to the infirmarytry to solve the verbal duel 1stmind you own businessRespondent no. 1Case PrologueMy friend Mr. X had been to a restaurant in Gurgaon along with his friends. There they saying a couple was being denied entry into the restaurant for no good reason and the manager was even misbehaving with them. All of a sudden the manager sum moned the bouncers who manhandled the couple and were going to bash them up. My friend X, along with his pals interfered, they were outnumbered, but eventually they managed to save the couple. In the process though, X got a few blows was injured.Interview FindingsI will jot down the pertinent findings from the interview with Mr. XI found that X intervened to save that kat because he believed that it was a case of injustice that someone should rise up to the occasion, since such an incident can happen to nearly anyone.X didnt know if he would succeed in saving the couple, but he knew if he tried it would make a deflexion.X realized that in process of rescuing the couple he his friends might get physically injured or face legal hurdles.I found that X didnt think of himself as someone who was born fearless, X believed that his sense of right wrong egged him on.X was basically a risk victorious person, he felt that his risk taking nature had helped him overcome his inner demons. Respondent no. 2Case PrologueThis person, Mr. Y, was a student of engineering, in a NIT. In his final examination year, a friend of his (Mr. A) was accused of cyber-crime data theft, he was heavily penalized by the institute Disciplinary Committee. Mr. Y along with his other friends decided to protest this. They managed to get their entire batch together sat on a silent protest. The sheer magnitude of the protest made the Director of the institute take note. aft(prenominal) speaking with Mr. Y his friends, he convened a meeting of the Disciplinary Committee, and after a long-stretched process of reinvestigation Mr. A was found guilty of a minor offence, the penalties were reduced proportionately.Interview FindingsThe following are my findings from my interview with Mr. Y which are pertinent to usI found that Y acted not just because he could em passageize with his friend, but because he believed that the ruling was flawed, having not considered the evidences properly.Y didnt k now if he could make any difference to his friends condition, but he wanted to make the college administration aware of the real case. He believed in a just trial.Mr. Y knew pretty well that by making a stand, he and his friends risked being singled out the college administration could victimize them through unfair gradation etc. but they went on with their plan.Mr. Y defended his friend since he knew that the case against him was amplified in nature, the punishments the charges were disproportionate. Had Mr. A actually been guilty of all the charges, Y would never have taken up his case.Mr. Y believed that it they had been pushed to the limit by the administration. He felt that it wasnt their inherent fearlessness but the fact that pushed against the wall he his friends didnt have a choice but to act.I found that Mr. Y wasnt always a risk taking person, in fact he even narrated how not taking a risk had affected his career, but in this situation he made an exemption.Respondent n o. 3Case PrologueMy friend Mr. Z was out with his missy, they came across a case of eve-teasing, wherein a chunk of miscreants were misbehaving with two girls. The general public was aloof to their plight. But Z intervened tried rescuing the girls, in the ensuing pettifoggery Z got injured, but seeing his courage the people around the scene also intervened they chased aside the miscreants.Interviewing Z was quite an eye-opener, since he had risked not just his own asylum but also the safety of his girlfriend to rescue to unknown girls. The findings are as followsI found that Z acted since he was both disgusted with the behavior of the bunch of guys, and the public which was plaiting a blind eye to the plight of the mixed-up girls.Z knew that public follows a herd mentality, he knew that if he took a stand the people around will follow sooner or later, luckily for him they joined in soon.Z wasnt sure if he could take on the miscreants single handedly but he nevertheless want ed to give it a try.Mr. Z knew that getting engulfed in this issue might risk not just his safety but that of his girlfriend also.Mr. Z believed that he was quite a fearless person, but he didnt believe in taking random risks, rather he was more of a pragmatist.GeneralizationMy interviews gave me an insight into the thinking process of the common man, who could don the colors of the superhero save the day for another commoner. In reality he wasnt someone of superhuman strength but someone whoHad a realistic sense of wrong right.Acted on his belief didnt shrieking away from making a standWasnt by definition a risk loving personWas a person who factored in the pros cons of a situation, but invariably decided to back his beliefsEmpathized with the person facing the repression.Findings of the study and GeneralizationThe findings of my study gave me a holistic idea of the situations which invoke behavioral traits mirroring bravery in us. I will analyze the findings of my study in the following lines, and try to relate it to the various aspects of bravery. subsequently going through the responses, I found that the most prevalent forms of bravery arePhysical BraveryMoral BraveryPsychological Bravery though important is something which I didnt directly find in any of my test subjects, but I believe that this form of bravery is something which we all exhibit in our daily lives. When we get over the anxiety of the future, we in some forms exhibit this, when we get over our fear of water try to swim we exhibit this.On basis of my interview the following components of bravery came upEmpathy The test subjects realized the pain stigma that the party being subjected to repression underwent their empathy drove them to act. It wasnt sympathy or condole with it rather was the tacit realization that such a misfortune can beset them also.Clarity of prospect I found that in all of the cases, the respondents had a clear picture of what is right what is wrong they took t he endeavor because they believed that the other person was being wronged.Self-belief/Confidence All the respondents were to some degree or the other convinced(p) of their abilities. They believed in themselves hence backed themselves up. It was never a half-hearted attempt.Risk appetite I found that the risk taking ability of the person didnt have a direct correlation with his readiness to exhibit acts of bravery. accordingly this shatters the age old belief that brave people are those who are most comfortable with taking risks.Fearlessness Though important, I found that being brave doesnt mean being fearless, its just that certain situations bring about a reaction in the subjects which makes them appear fearless. But its just the strength of their inner conviction, not fearlessness which makes them act.Pragmatism I found that todays brave were practical about the approach they followed, they measurable the pros cons of the situation and acted in a manner which would ensure t he success of their mission best. They followed the more realistic path even if it were the less glamorous.Implication of Group workAs we can see, bravery or the lack of it influences the way a person behaves in public to a great extent. I believe when in a collection the following implications ariseGroups tend to give the individual a sense of certificate, as in case of respondent 1, I think being in a sort had its set on his decision to act.A brave person, I feel is an asset to have in your team for he/she would be an ideal team-mate, one who is confident yet composed, one who is there to hold the group together in case of any external threat or danger.Brave individuals dont shriek away from taking the charge, making them ideal leaders.On an individual level I believe, being brave increases a persons appeal enhances scope for future benefits.Brave individuals are generally well known this in turn gets them their group the kind of visibility which can be leveraged for their be nefit.One negative of an overtly brave individual maybe that he/she might get the group involved in a potentially grievous situation, as in case of respondent 3, even though not a case of group behavior, Mr. Z could have unknowingly landed his girlfriend in trouble.Contribution to OBThe above study of bravery is one of its kind, having studied bravery in a qualitative basis I could attain at working model to define bravery of a person. As can be seen I could find that there is a correlation between bravery a few other traits that is to sayEmpathyClarity of ThoughtSelf-beliefPragmatismUsing these above traits we can arrive at a bravery scale for a person, this could help various organizations like the police force or private security organizations etc. in their selection process. I believe a more detailed study which involves a greater number of people as its sample, can further clear the doubt regarding the fearlessness trait bravery. Also I feel a study can be undertaken to st udy psychological bravery in a select population like inhabitants of a drug rehabilitation camp etc.ConclusionAfter having studied the behavioral trait of bravery in detail, after having considered its various forms manifestations, I realize that a lot of people exhibit it in their lives in varying proportions. Not every form of bravery is noticed, not every form of it documented, but starting from the woman who fends of eve-teasers to a corporate CEO who takes charge of a troubled giant in times of a downturn, we have brave people whose constant vigour zeal keeps the world running.Bravery is a highly preferred behavioral trait it is something which keeps the world going. It is something that we seek in all the people around us, it is the difference between an enterpriser a wannabe entrepreneur, and it is the key to achieve success in any form of activity in life. We can correlate the success of an idea to the amount of courage put in by its proponents, ceteris paribus.On the wh ole I can say the above study has helped me arrive at a definition of bravery which I feel encompasses most if not all aspects of itBravery is a behavioral trait which allows us to overcome our inhibitions, our inner fears gives us that strength of conviction to do what we feel is right, irrespective of any form of backlash. It manifests itself in face of physical, moral, psychological danger.Brave people have been instrumental in delivery about the greatest changes in our lives, I believe the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jack Welch, Winston Churchill were brave enough to face their demons succeed.