Conceptualising Acts of Civil Heroism: An examination of civil heroic action taking

Abstract

With no duty, training, minimal knowledge and often no direct connection to the victim, civil heroes put themselves at risk of physical harm or even death to save others. According to a number of accepted theories, thought processes, and subsequent action is said to happen in a rational state of mind, with the outcome desirability and probabilities being cognitively processed. However, a recent focus on emotions offers an alternative to such a process and with such, this paper provides an in-depth analysis of how ones emotional intuitions can determine civil heroic action. Whilst it was found that civil heroic action is likely to be due to emotional intuitions, it withholds assumptions that all civil heroic instances are processed in this manner. However, with moral intuition occurring with high intensity, before one has the time or ability to cognitively reflect upon the situation; it is assumed that this is true in the majority of cases.