Neuroscientific Implications of Psychological Capital: Are the Brains of Optimistic, Hopeful, Confident, and Resilient Leaders Different?

It has been suggested that hope, optimism, confidence, and resiliency are instrumental capacities for effective leadership. These capacities, collectively known as psychological capital, or PsyCap, are increasingly being applied to leadership development and practice primarily because they are consi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Organizational dynamics 2008-10, Vol.37 (4), p.342-353
Main Authors: Peterson, Suzanne J, Balthazard, Pierre A, Waldman, David A, Thatcher, Robert W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capital
Leaders
Leadership
Leadership training
Managerial skills
Neurosciences
Optimism
Psychology
Qualifications
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Summary:It has been suggested that hope, optimism, confidence, and resiliency are instrumental capacities for effective leadership. These capacities, collectively known as psychological capital, or PsyCap, are increasingly being applied to leadership development and practice primarily because they are considered to be open to development and have an impact on performance. However, why are some leaders more optimistic, hopeful, confident, and resilient than others? Moreover, exactly how developable are these capacities? Advances in neuroscience may help to answer these questions. In this paper, we summarize some new and potentially groundbreaking evidence that suggests the brain activity of high PsyCap leaders differs from those with low PsyCap. In addition, we provide new ideas for the assessment, as well as the development, of these leadership characteristics through neuroscience. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0090-2616
1873-3530
DOI:10.1016/j.orgdyn.2008.07.007