The left side of courage: Three exploratory studies on the antecedents of social courage

Abstract

Courage has been linked to important workplace outcomes, but little is known about the antecedents of courage. To identify possible methods to develop a more courageous workforce, the current article provides initial evidence regarding the antecedents of behavioral social courage from five broad categories: personality, job characteristics, leadership, culture, and demographic characteristics. Three exploratory studies show that certain antecedents from these categories have a significant relationship with behavioral social courage, including grit, proactive personality (personality), social support (job characteristics), empowering leadership (leadership), power distance (culture), and age (demographics). Perceived courage benefits and risks did not mediate the effect of most antecedents on behavioral social courage. These results suggest that certain antecedents may influence behavioral social courage, but the mediators of these relationships remain unknown. Further implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Youth purpose during the great recession: A mixed-methods study

ABSTRACT

Although research reveals purpose can buffer youth from negative states in other contexts, little is known about how youth with purpose function amidst significant economic challenges. This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study, conducted with a sample of Greek youth during the Great Recession, sought to determine (1) if the presence of purpose buffered youth from the potentially demoralizing effects of the economic crisis, and if so, (2) how it managed to do so. Survey results suggest youth with high purpose scores were resilient enough to look past the present challenges and envision a positive future. Qualitative findings suggest youth with purpose remained hopeful about the future by focusing on commitments to their friends, families, communities, and country, and at times, by tuning out the negative economic news. Implications of these findings for positive youth development are discussed.     

Recalling courage: An initial test of a brief writing intervention to activate a ‘courageous mindset’ and courageous behavior

ABSTRACT

Though theoretical models propose that courage can be ‘activated,’ little experimental work exists to support this idea. The current study examines a writing intervention that asks individuals to reflect on experiences in which they faced their fears (thus demonstrating courage) to determine if such reflection would promote more approach-oriented cognition (Study 1) and behavioral intentions (Study 2). As expected, when asked to decide if they could/would engage in various approach behaviors related to their fear, participants in the courage condition chose ‘yes’ more often and were comparatively faster to choose ‘yes’ and slower to choose ‘no.’ Furthermore, participants in the courage condition demonstrated greater intentions of approach behavior toward feared situations in the laboratory. These results, though small in effect, suggest that the writing intervention can activate a ‘courageous mindset’ and can promote more courageous behavioral intentions.     

The relation between elevation and self-reported prosocial behavior: Incremental validity over the Five-Factor Model of Personality

With the development of the field of positive psychology, new constructs have made their way into the literature. One such construct, elevation, represents a positive moral emotion that is experienced when one witnesses the kind, moral behavior of others (Haidt, 2003 Haidt, J. 2003. “Elevation and the positive psychology of morality”. In Flourishing: Positive psychology and the life well-lived, Edited by: Keyes, CL and Haidt, J. 275–289. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). To date, few researchers have examined this construct. The current study examined elevation by locating it in the factor space of the Five-Factor Model of Personality, and determined its relation to the constructs of spiritual transcendence and self-reported prosocial behavior. A total of 188 student participants were recruited. Results indicated that Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, spiritual transcendence, and self-reported prosocial behavior were all positively correlated with elevation. Moreover, the results indicated that elevation provided significant incremental validity in predicting self-reports of prosocial behavior over and above the Five-Factor Model of Personality and spiritual transcendence. Clinical implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are considered.     

The time course of positive and negative emotion in dysphoria

Prior research has demonstrated attenuated reactivity to positive stimuli among depressed and dysphoric individuals, and inconsistent evidence regarding attenuated reactivity to negative stimuli. However, such research has measured experiential reactivity to emotion stimuli in one static moment, which may obscure important information regarding the time course and dynamics of emotion. The current study employed continuous measurement of experiential emotion during and following the presentation of emotion eliciting film clips. Results revealed that dysphoric individuals (n = 16), as compared to nondysphoric controls (n = 31), were equally responsive to positive and negative film clips in terms of peak reactivity during and following the clip. The most striking difference between groups was that dysphoric individuals showed a shortened time course of positive emotion. These emotion dynamics suggest that perhaps the most important aspect of positive emotion regulation in the context of depressed mood is not the inability to initially react to a positive experience, but rather the inability to maintain positive emotion. Possible underlying mechanisms of positive emotion regulation are discussed, and implications for intervention are highlighted.     

Pretend play and positive psychology: Natural companions

In this article we posit that (1) research on pretend play fits under the umbrella of the positive psychology movement, (2) pretend play involves a multitude of processes that are linked to adaptive functioning, and (3) understanding and implementing knowledge of pretend play processes in therapy or interventions may lead to more optimal functioning in children. We review five areas of positive psychology in relation to pretend play: (1) creativity, (2) coping, (3) emotion regulation, (4) empathy/emotional understanding, and (5) hope. Implications for interventions and future research questions are discussed.     

The Reflected Best Self field experiment with adolescent leaders: exploring the psychological resources associated with feedback source and valence

This study provides a preliminary examination of the efficacy of the Reflected Best Self Exercise. We conducted a field quasi-experiment with 108 adolescent leaders assigned to a 2 × 2 design: (1) valence of feedback (i.e., strengths-only versus strengths and improvement-oriented) and (2) source of feedback (i.e., professional (e.g., teachers, coaches, bosses) only versus professional and personal (e.g., friends and family)). By ANOVA, support was found for the hypothesis that feedback from the combination of professional and personal sources is associated with more positive emotional, agentic, and relational resources than feedback from only professional sources. Little support was found for the hypothesis that strengths-based feedback generates more positive emotional, agentic, or relational resources. Limitations, implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.     

Feeling safe and content: A specific affect regulation system? Relationship to depression,anxiety, stress,and self-criticism

Recent work in the neuroscience of positive affect has suggested that there may be two different types of positive affect. One is linked to a drive/seeking system (and may be dopaminergic mediated) and the other is a soothing-contentment system (and may be opiate/oxytocin mediated). This study sought to develop a self-report scale that could tap these positive affects in regard to characteristic feelings individuals may have. Results from 203 students suggested three (rather than two) underlying factors: activated positive affect, relaxed positive affect, and safe/content positive affect. It was the safe/content positive affect that had the highest negative correlations with depression, anxiety and stress, self-criticism, and insecure attachment. Hence, greater clarity on the different types and functions of positive affect may demystify the relationship between positive emotions and well-being.     

Seeing photos makes us read between the lines: The influence of photos on memory for inferences

Three studies examined how photos accompanying stories could contribute to people drawing inferences about outcomes from the stories and subsequently claiming that they had read what had actually only been inferred. Subjects read short stories designed to induce inferences about their conclusions (e.g., “Sabrina dropped the delicate vase” invites the inference that the vase broke) accompanied by a photo depicting the likely conclusion (the broken vase), a photo depicting a detail of the story but not the conclusion (the vase before it was dropped), or no photo. Results showed that seeing photographs consistent with inferred conclusions led people to falsely claim that they read those conclusions. Photo-boosted inferences were held with high confidence and were robust over time. Falsely recalled inferences were sometimes accompanied by false claims to have seen a photo depicting the inferred events when another photo or no photo had actually be seen. These findings support the source monitoring framework's prediction that people can mistakenly attribute their internally generated inferences about what occurred to externally derived sources when they have photographic “evidence” consistent with the inferred conclusions.     

Mood and the DRM paradigm: An investigation of the effects of valence and arousal on false memory

Recent studies regarding the effect of mood on the DRM (Deese–Roediger–McDermott) illusion have not been able to clearly establish yet whether valence or arousal is most critical in determining susceptibility to false memories, nor what the underlying processes are. In three experiments, both the valence and the level of arousal of participants' mood were manipulated. Six conditions were used: positive mood with high/low arousal, negative mood with high/low arousal, neutral mood, and a control condition. Memory was tested by means of immediate and delayed recognition and immediate free recall. The mood induction procedure was effective. For recognition memory, there was an effect of arousal on the endorsement of critical lures. Low-arousal moods elicited more false recognition than high-arousal moods, regardless of valence. Based on signal detection analyses, the effect was attributed to more liberal response criteria with low arousal, in combination with a tendency towards improved item-specific memory with high arousal.