General vs Personal Courage: Courageous for Whom?

General courage measures an act against what an average person could manage; personal courage measures it against what this actor could manage. Raise the act’s difficulty and raise the actor’s own skill, and watch the two come apart. Average ability is fixed at 50.

General20Personal40Scale 0–100
General = max(0, 70 − 50) = 20; Personal = max(0, 70 − 30) = 40. Personal exceeds general: the act is harder for this actor than for an average person — a novice showing great personal courage.
An illustrative model of the general/personal distinction (Pury, Kowalski & Spearman, 2007); the baselines and values are schematic, not measured. Computed locally, not stored.

Approach Despite Fear: A Behavioral Approach Test

Courage is behavioral approach despite fear, not the absence of fear. On a 10-step approach test toward a feared object, how far a person moves is set by the balance of courage and fear. Hold fear fixed and raise courage, and approach increases even though the fear has not fallen.

StartFeared objectReached step 6 of 1060% of the way to the feared object
Approach = 100 × 60 / (60 + 40) = 60%, reaching step 6 of 10. Courage outweighs fear: the person closes most of the distance to the feared object despite feeling afraid.
An illustrative model of courage as approach despite fear (Norton & Weiss, 2009); the balance rule and values are schematic, not measured. Computed locally, not stored.

Courage as a Conjunction: Volition × Risk × Goal Value

On the defining-features view, courage needs all three elements at once: a freely chosen act (volition), real risk, and a goal the actor values. Set any one to zero and the product collapses. Crucially, the goal value is the actor’s — so whether society endorses the goal does not change the structural score.

Society’s view of the goal:
VolitionRiskGoal valueCourage0.64
Courage = 1.00 × 0.80 × 0.80 = 0.64. All three elements are present, so the act scores as structurally courageous. Society shares the actor's valuation: the act reads as ordinary (good) courage.
An illustrative model of the defining-features account of courage (Pury et al., 2015); the conjunction rule and values are schematic, not measured. Computed locally, not stored.