This reference work is an important resource in the growing field of heroism studies. It presents concepts, research, and events key to understanding heroism, heroic leadership, heroism development, heroism science, and their relevant applications to businesses, organizations, clinical psychology, human wellness, human growth potential, public health, social justice, social activism, and the humanities. The encyclopedia emphasizes five key realms of theory and application: Business and organization, focusing on management effectiveness, emotional intelligence, empowerment, ethics, transformational leadership, product branding, motivation, employee wellness, entrepreneurship, and whistleblowers; clinical-health psychology and public health, focusing on stress and trauma, maltreatment, emotional distress, bullying, psychopathy, depression, anxiety, family disfunction, chronic illness, and healthcare workers’ wellbeing; human growth and positive psychology, discussing altruism, authenticity, character strengths, compassion, elevation, emotional agility, eudaimonia, morality, empathy, flourishing, flow, self-efficacy, joy, kindness, prospection, moral development, courage, and resilience; social justice and activism, highlighting anti-racism, anti-bullying, civil disobedience, civil rights heroes, climate change, environmental heroes, enslavement heroes, human rights heroism, humanitarian heroes, inclusivity, LGBTQ+ heroism, #metoo movement heroism, racism, sustainability, and women’s suffrage heroes; and humanities, relating to the mythic hero’s journey, bliss, boon, crossing the threshold, epic heroes, fairy tales, fiction, language and rhetoric, narratives, mythology, hero monomyth, humanities and heroism, religious heroes, and tragic heroes.
Author Biography:
Scott T. Allison is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Richmond. He has published extensively on heroism and leadership and numerous books, including Heroes and Heroic Leadership; Reel Heroes, Conceptions of Leadership; Frontiers in Spiritual Leadership; and the Handbook of Heroism and Heroic Leadership. His work has appeared in USA Today, National Public Radio, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Slate Magazine, MSNBC, CBS, Psychology Today, and the Christian Science Monitor. He has received Richmond's Distinguished Educator Award and the Virginia Council of Higher Education's Outstanding Faculty Award.
James K. Beggan is Professor of Sociology at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. He attended the State University of New York at Buffalo for his undergraduate work and earned a Ph.D. in psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Over the years, he has taught courses on a wide range of topics including consumer behavior, industrial psychology, gender, human sexuality, quantitative research methods, statistics, and the self and society. He has published research on the psychology of ownership and the sexual self-concept, including how people overestimate their abilities to resist temptation. His current research interests involve logistical problems involved in creating and maintaining consensually nonmonogamous relationships, social conflicts created by our love of dogs, and leadership dynamics.
George R. Goethals is the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies Emeritus at the University of Richmond. Previously he held academic and administrative appointments at Williams College where he served as the chair of the Department of Psychology, Acting Dean of the Faculty, Provost, and, finally, founder and chair of the Program in Leadership Studies. He taught courses on theories of leadership and presidential leadership. His recent scholarship focuses on presidential leadership, heroism and leader-follower dynamics. He has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Leadership Association and Richmond’s Distinguished Scholarship Award.
