Nogueira Inês, Barbosa Mariana Reis, Ribeiro Luísa Mota, Xenophontos Ioanna, Zimbardo Philip
Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Research Centre for Human Development, Porto, Portugal.
Department of Psychology, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States.
Front Psychol. 2023 May 9;14:1091349. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1091349. eCollection 2023.
The Heroic Imagination Project (HIP) aims to redefine heroism as a set of habits that anyone can achieve. Research findings on the psychological foundations of negative forms of social influence that can lead to bystander behavior are translated into tools that individuals can use in their daily lives. Habits of wise and effective helping behavior are learned, modeled, and encouraged through the training of the "heroic imagination." According to the literature, practicing mindfulness can increase empathy, compassion, and prosocial behaviors. There is empirical evidence that compassion can act as a mediator between mindfulness and prosocial helping behaviors toward strangers, suggesting that mindfulness promotes this behavior and thus helps to overcome the bystander effect. With this hypothesis in mind, we created a program that combined mindfulness and HIP sessions. Five participants volunteered to participate in the "Creating Mindful Heroes" 9-week program. Throughout the sessions, they filled in a diary, and at the end of the program, they answered two feedback questionnaires. They were then invited to participate in individual interviews. The participants reported a positive overall perspective regarding the program, mentioning several improvements in their relationships with their family, peers, and others in society. Moreover, participants reported that the program promoted prosocial behaviors and aided them in developing empathy.
英雄想象力项目（HIP）旨在将英雄主义重新定义为一套任何人都能养成的习惯。关于可能导致旁观者行为的负面社会影响形式的心理基础的研究结果被转化为个人在日常生活中可以使用的工具。通过“英雄想象力”培训，人们学习、模仿并被鼓励养成明智且有效的帮助行为习惯。根据文献记载，练习正念可以增强同理心、同情心和亲社会行为。有实证证据表明，同情心可以作为正念与对陌生人的亲社会帮助行为之间的调解因素，这表明正念促进了这种行为，从而有助于克服旁观者效应。基于这一假设，我们创建了一个将正念与HIP课程相结合的项目。五名参与者自愿参加了为期9周的“创造正念英雄”项目。在整个课程期间，他们填写日记，在项目结束时，他们回答了两份反馈问卷。然后，他们被邀请参加个人访谈。参与者对该项目给出了积极的总体评价，提到他们与家人、同龄人以及社会上其他人的关系有了一些改善。此外，参与者报告称该项目促进了亲社会行为，并帮助他们培养了同理心。
