Encyclopedia of Heroism Studies

Scott T. Allison
 is Professor 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 in human-animals interactions, and leadership dynamics. His books include Sexual Harassment, the Abuse of Power and the Crisis of Leadership: “Superstar” Harassers and How to Stop Them; The Dilemma of Coalition Formation in Consensual Nonmonogamy: Three Against Two Against One; How Our Love of Dogs Creates Social Conflict; and The Decisions to Open a Relationship: To Three or Not to Three. He coauthored The Hazards of Great Leadership: Detrimental Consequences of Leader Exceptionalism with Scott T. Allison and George Goethals.

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. 

Sections in the Encyclopedia:

History and popular culture: 
George R. Goethals

Social Science: Ari Kohen

Technology and Screens: Chris Comerford

Social Cognition: Elaine L. Kinsella

Social Justice: James K. Beggan

Social Psychology: Scott T. Allison, Brian Riches