Positive Psychological

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Positive psychological capital

and entrepreneurshipErasmus Intensive Programme IP

Prague, July 2011

Mariola Laguna

The John Paul II Catholic University of LublinPoland

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Poland

Europe

Lublin

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My research• Associated professor at the Institute of Psychology KUL Lublin

• Research interests:– personality (self-concept, self-efficacy, self-esteem, optimism, hope, goal directed behavior);

– psychological assessment and diagnosis;– work & organizational psychology.

• Publications in Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Career Development, Journal of Mental Changes; books (author and editor), e.g.Laguna M. (2010). Self-referent beliefs and goal directed behavior. Gdansk: GWP. (in Polish)

www.kul.pl/laguna

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Stories...

• Albert Einstein • Thomas Edison • Sigmund Freud • Walt Disney

What help them to succeed? Why didn’t they give up?

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"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall."Confucius

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot ... and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed."Michael Jordan

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Positive psychology movement

• Seligman and Csikszentmihalayi (2000) postulate a shift toward studying human potentialities, strengths and talents. Positive psychology – new movement: – It is interested in ‘the science of optimal human functioning’.

– It wants to learn what works from studying human success rather than human failure or weaknesses.

– It focuses attention on positive subjective experiences as well as positive human characteristics.

– It is not just interested in individuals but in how group structures can induce positive emotion and encourage the use of strengths.

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Character Strengths and Virtues– The strength already exists within

us, whether to a greater or lesser extent.

–  When people are using their strengths, they feel like they are being the “real me,” not the person that someone else wants them to be, but the person who they really are.

–  When people use their strengths, they feel as if they have more energy available to them.

‘Much like the DSM, the CSV provides a theoretical framework to practical applications for positive psychology.’

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Character Strengths and

Virtues• 6 classes of virtue - "core virtues", made up of 24 character strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004)

• Wisdom and Knowledge: creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, perspective

• Courage: bravery, perseverance, honesty, zest• Humanity: love, kindness, social intelligence • Justice: teamwork, fairness, leadership • Temperance: forgiveness & mercy, modesty & humility, prudence, self-regulation

• Transcendence: appreciation of beauty & excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality

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Exercise: Strengths and virtues

• What are your own personal strengths?

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Exercise: Strengths and virtues

• Try to evaluate which of character strengths seems to be most important for entrepreneurs.

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Positive psychological capital

• Traditionally, three types of resources have been isolated in management:– 1. financial resources, – 2. physical or technological resources, – 3. human resources.

• Luthans and his team propose also fourth type of resources that may increase competitiveness in the marketplace:– 4. positive psychological capital.

(Jensen & Luthans, 2006; Luthans & Youssef, 2004)

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Positive psychological capital

in entrepreneurship• What helps people undertake entrepreneurial activity even if it is a demanding task?

• Do positive psychological factors matter in entrepreneurship?

• We still need more research to explain how and to what extent positive psychological factors affect the entrepreneurial process.

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Study 1 Results - SEM model

N = 332; chi2 = 5,494; p = 0,359 ; RMSEA = 0,018; GFI = 0,994

Hope

,14

Value

,43

Expectancy

,30

Intention

dV

dI

dE

Self-esteem

Entrepreneurialself-efficacy

,32

Optim ism

,33,43

,20

-,13

,41

,38,50

,52

,16

,12

,22

,19

,15

,29

,35

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Study 2 Results - SEM model

N = 606; chi2 = 3,734; p = 0,880 ; RMSEA = 0,001; GFI = 0,998

Optim ism

Hope

,18

Value

,54

Expectancy

,25

Intention

dV

dI

dE

,71

Plan

dP

Self-esteem

Entrepreneurialself-efficacy

,31

-,20

,53

,11,72

,08

,26,19

-,07

,47

,33

,49

,51

,50

,35

,26

,22

,15 ,17,12

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Hope in psychology• Do you recognize any symbols of hope?

• How can we define hope?

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"Hope in a Prison of Despair" by Evelyn de

Morgan

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Snyder’s conception

Snyder defines hope as a thinking process in which the person perceives that s/he can: – (1) conceptualize goals, – (2) produce the routes to these goals (pathways thinking),

– (3) initiate and sustain movement along those pathways (agency thinking - will).

• „I will do this”

Hope theory: rainbows in the mind (Snyder, 2002)

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HopeThinking process, includes: – Goal conceptualization– Pathways – I am able to produce the routes to my goals

– Agency - I am able to initiate and sustain movement along those pathways „I will”

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Hope• According to Snyder (2002) - interconnected self-beliefs concerning a sense of successful goal-directed determination (agency), and planning of ways to meet goals (pathways)

• Individuals with a high level of hope approach goals as challenge, concentrate on the possibilities of success rather than failure, and assess highly the probability of goal attainment.

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How to develop hope• Setting specific, realistic, challenging goals

• Planning ways to meet these goals– „stepping” – breaking a long-term goal down into smaller substeps

– planning several routes in case one should be blocked

• Developing agency – motivation to use those routes– accentuate strengths and positive movement toward a goal

– view the barriers as challenges rather than failures and as normal part of life

– recall how overcame previous barriers

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Exercise: hope recipe

• Try to use these suggestions to increase your own level of hope for goal achievement.

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Preparing exercises for the training programme

• Discuss the ways of developing hope in the context of entrepreneurship.

• Propose exercises, activities (e.g. role plays, cases) which may be useful for hope development during the training for potential or actual entrepreneurs.

• Prepare a short presentation of your training activities.

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Exercise description • Title of the exercise• Learning objectives - What the participants will be able to do as a result of this learning activity?

• Time frame - How much time does it take?

• Materials, resources - What will be necessary for this exercise?

• Description of the exercise

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Exercises developing hope

Propose exercises developing hope in the context of entrepreneurship by:a) setting specific, realistic, challenging goals

And one of these two ways:b) planning ways to meet these goalsc) developing agency – motivation to use those routes

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• Defined as people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives.

• „I can do this”• Determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave.

• Produce these diverse effects through cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes.

Self-efficacy

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Self-efficacy beliefs affect human agency in diverse ways:

• Choice behavior - People tend to avoid engaging in a task where their efficacy is low, and generally undertake tasks where their efficacy is high

• Effort expenditure and persistence - The stronger the perceived self-efficacy, the more vigorous and persistent are people's at their efforts

• Thought patterns and emotional reactions - Perceived self-efficacy shapes causal thinking "Perceived self-efficacy contributes to the development of subskills,

as well as draws upon them in fashioning new behavior patterns" (Bandura, 1986, p. 395)

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People with a strong sense of self-efficacy

• Approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats

• Set themselves challenging goals and maintain strong commitment to them

• Heighten and sustain their efforts in the face of failure

• Attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient knowledge and skills which are acquirable

• Approach threatening situations with assurance that they can exercise control over them

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How to develop self-efficacy

1. Mastery experiences, enactive attainment

2. Vicarious experiences, modeling3. Social persuasion, positive feedback

4.  Somatic and emotional states

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Guided mastery principlesThe best way to develop self-efficacy - allowing people

to experience success, by guided mastery principles, which consists of three components - learners:

1. Learn the basic rules and strategies necessary to perform a task or job - appropriate skills are modeled.

2. Receive guided practice under conditions simulating real life situations (e.g. by role play exercises or simulator training), which allows to develop proficiency in the new skills; receive informative feedback (e.g. videotapes); attention needs to be directed to the corrective changes that need to be made.

3. Are provided with a graduated transfer program that helps them to use their new skills in real life situations.

(Bandura, 1997)

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Preparing exercises for the training programme

• Discuss the ways of developing self-efficacy in the context of entrepreneurship.

• Propose exercises, activities which may be useful for self-efficacy development during the training for potential or actual entrepreneurs.

• Prepare a short presentation of your training activities.

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Exercise description • Title of the exercise• Learning objectives - What the participants will be able to do as a result of this learning activity?

• Time frame - How much time does it take?

• Materials, resources - What will be necessary for this exercise?

• Description of the exercise

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Exercises developing self-efficacy

Propose exercises developing self-efficacy in the context of entrepreneurship using:a) Mastery experiences, enactive attainment,

b) Vicarious experiences, modeling,c) Social persuasion, positive feedback,d) Somatic and emotional states.

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Positive psychological capital

• Not as constant as personality traits. – I can do this– I will do this

• Beliefs that are measurable.• Can be developed and modified.

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Homework• Take one of your strengths and for the following day use the strength in a new way.

• Think about:– How can you demonstrate this strength?

– What are the examples of this strength?

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• Questions?• Comments?

Thank you

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Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Some things in life are badThey can really make you madOther things just make you swear and curse.When you're chewing on life's gristleDon't grumble, give a whistleAnd this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life... Always look on the light side of life...

If life seems jolly rottenThere's something you've forgottenAnd that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.When you're feeling in the dumpsDon't be silly chumpsJust purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life... Always look on the light side of life...

words and music by Eric Idle