Fostering Heroism in Fourth and Fifth Grade Students
91精品 alumnus Elisabeth Heiner, Psy.D., has adapted her dissertation into an article, which was recently published in . The article, "Fostering Heroism in Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Students," was published online by the journal in January 2018. The print version will be available later this year.
A desire to research prosocial, heroic behavior led Dr. Heiner to formulate a study that 鈥渆mpirically evaluated the potential effect of a training program...designed to foster heroism in children.鈥� This grew to be her dissertation, which she completed with committee members and Dr. Karen Wise.
Dr. Heiner researched the effectiveness of teaching children to think of themselves as 鈥溾�榟eroes in waiting,鈥� [who] can stand up to injustices they may witness, such as bullying,鈥� and measured how this affected their internal feelings of courage.
Dr. Heiner explains that 鈥渢he goal of the current study was to add to research on positive character traits generally, but more specifically, to contribute to literature on heroism and courage in young children.鈥� She focused her study on fourth- and fifth-grade students because middle childhood is an important period of identity formation. It is 鈥渂oth an opportune and difficult time to teach moral education to children because while they are able to empathize with others more than they were able to at younger ages, they are also more vulnerable to peer influence.鈥�
Dr. Heiner鈥檚 research has been well-received. In April 2018, she accepted an invitation to serve on a panel discussing Psychology and Heroism at the in San Francisco. Dr. Heiner has also been invited to work with the heroism research team of Dr. Philip Zimbardo鈥檚 . These projects are discussed in , in which Heiner's research is lauded as "the first empirical evidence for statistically significant changes in courageous action in schoolchildren."
To learn more about Dr. Heiner鈥檚 findings, to access the article as it is currently available through the journal's website. Feel free to email elisabethkheiner@gmail.com with further inquiry.
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