2024-08-02

What’s Your Hero’s Journey?

The Hero’s Journey, also known as the monomyth, is a narrative structure identified by mythologist Joseph Campbell. It describes a hero who embarks on an adventure, faces and overcomes a crisis, and returns transformed. This framework is ubiquitous, appearing in ancient myths, religious texts, and blockbusters like “Harry Potter” and “Star Wars.”

The journey typically involves several key stages:

1. Protagonist: The hero of the story, is often an ordinary person.
2. Shift: A significant change that sets the hero on their path.
3. Quest: The goal or mission the hero strives to achieve.
4. Allies: Companions and mentors who aid the hero.
5. Challenge: Obstacles and adversities the hero must overcome.
6. Transformation: The personal growth and change the hero experiences.
7. Legacy: The lasting impact the hero has on their world.

The Hero’s Journey resonates deeply with us because it mirrors our struggles and triumphs. It provides a template for making sense of our experiences and emphasizes themes of growth, resilience, and contribution.

Framing Your Life as a Hero’s Journey: The Study

A recent paper explores how framing one’s life as a Hero’s Journey can increase perceived meaning. The researchers developed the Hero’s Journey Scale (HJS) to measure how closely individuals’ life stories align with the Hero’s Journey framework.

Methodology

1. Developing the HJS: The Hero’s Journey Scale was created by distilling Campbell’s 17-step monomyth into seven key elements. Participants rated their life stories against this scale.
2. Testing the Association: Initial studies surveyed diverse populations to see if higher HJS scores correlated with greater meaning in life.
3. Re-storying Intervention: Participants were asked to rewrite their life stories incorporating the Hero’s Journey elements. This intervention was tested against control conditions to measure its impact on perceived meaning.

Results

• Association with Meaning in Life: Participants who scored higher on the Hero’s Journey Scale reported significantly higher levels of meaning in life. This was measured using established scales for meaning, including the Meaning in Life Questionnaire and the Purpose in Life Test. For example, in one of the studies, a nationally representative sample of Americans showed a strong positive correlation between high HJS scores and higher meaning in life (β = .74, p < .001).

• Re-storying Intervention: In some studies, participants rewrote their life narratives using the Hero’s Journey framework. This intervention significantly increased perceived life meaning compared to control groups. In one of the studies participants who underwent the re-storying intervention reported an increase in life meaning by an average of 0.5 points on a 7-point scale, compared to no significant change in the control group.

What can you do?

These findings highlight the power of narrative in shaping our perception of life. By viewing ourselves as heroes on a journey, we can transform our experiences into a coherent and meaningful story. So, the next time you’re reflecting on your life, try to frame it like this, maybe using the same intervention of the study. You might find that this narrative perspective provides the meaning and motivation you are eager for.

Hero’s Journey Re-storying Intervention Used in the Study

References:

• Rogers, B. A., et al. (2023). Seeing Your Life Story as a Hero’s Journey Increases Meaning in Life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.