I Can Be a Hero: What Is the Influence of Fictional Hero Stories on the Personality Development of Adolescent Males?

Abstract

Hero stories are inspiring, ubiquitous, and magnetic to children and adolescents. Psychologists and scholars postulate their ability to facilitate psychological development (Campbell, 1949; Jung, 1954, 1959, 1968; May, 1991; Von Franz, 1990, 1996; Le Grice, 2013; Allison & Goethals, 2015; Efthimiou & Franco, 2017). This retrospective study was the first to empirically investigate the relationship between engaging with fictional hero stories and personality development among adolescent males. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to illuminate the shared experience of the male participants (n = 3, age = 19–25). All participants had a relationship with their hero, learned lessons from them, and were inspired by them. The Heroic Leadership Dynamic (Allison & Goethals, 2015) and models of cognitive, moral, and identity development were used to interpret this data. Engaging with fictional hero stories during adolescence had a number of meaningful effects on the participants’ personality development. The following propositions summarize the effects: Hero stories (a) support emotional intelligence development; (b) evoke elevation and expression of heroic traits; (c) help overcome hardship and limitations through sharing experiences with the hero; (d) facilitate cognitive and moral development; (e) facilitate identity and narrative identity development; (f) produce the therapeutic factors of group therapy even in the absence of group storytelling; and (g) together, these effects influence personality development towards well-being. Many of these findings are novel and unique. Future research is needed to determine their veracity. Adolescence is a critical period of personality development and hero stories are an accessible, attractive, and effective means of supporting adolescents’ well-being.