Heroes: Why Do Some Risk Their Lives for Others?

Jan. 12, 2011— -- The mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., was remarkable for the shooter's brutality and for the courage of the bystanders who risked their lives to stop him.

Seventy-four-year-old retired Army Col. Bill Badger's head was grazed by a bullet during the shooting, but somehow he still wrestled 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner to the ground as Loughner continued to fire.

"Your first reaction is to put a stop to it and do what you have to do to put a stop to it," Badger said.

Daniel Hernandez, an intern who had worked for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords for just a week, also ran toward the gunfire. He held Giffords in his arms and possibly saved her life.

"I was kind of holding her up against my chest and applying pressure to her wound," Herandez said. "I would tell her, 'Gabby, are you still with us? Just grab my hand. Hold tight.'"

Hernandez got a standing ovation in the Arizona legislature Tuesday.

Tuscon's heroes echo cases in the past where ordinary people -- untrained and with very much to lose -- made an instant decision to risk their own lives to save others.

Rohit Deshpande, a professor at Harvard Business School, has delved into the science of heroism to find out what causes someone to spring into action despite the danger to help or save someone else.

In his research, Deshpande focused on how hotel workers took extreme risks to protect guests during the deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, in 2008.

After several desperate hours of explosions and gunfire, members of the kitchen staff locked arms and formed a cordon around guests as the attackers machine-gunned them down.

In another display of heroism, hotel operators stayed at their phones to call rooms with vital information.

"I was incredibly surprised to hear their stories," Deshpande said.

He found heroism had nothing to do with age, gender or religion. It started with personality.

"It seems that they have a much more highly developed moral compass," he said. "They have this instinct for doing something good for other people. We find this across a whole series of situations. We find people who risk their own lives to protect people from harm."