Psychological Capital: The Keys to Success

Thomas Edison, who had brilliantly invented the light bulb, was trying to build the first battery. As his attempts continued without success, a young man asked him why he didn't stop after so many failures. Thomas Edison replied, "I haven't failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work." It all seems to come down to how we view the things that happen to us. Thomas Edison has a high psychological capital. What does this mean? How can we develop our psychological capital so that we too can achieve success?

THE psychological capital (Psy Cap) is a key concept in positive psychology. Widespread in English-speaking countries, it remains poorly understood in France.

PsyCap, as it is sometimes called, represents an individual's state of positive psychological development. It is characterized by the following four elements: sense of self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism (Luthans et al., 2007).

THE feeling Self-efficacy is about confidence in our ability to mobilize and make the effort to successfully meet challenges. We feel that we can control the situation and derive positive benefit from it. It is our ability to feel that "I can do it." We feel that we are competent in this area. To improve our sense of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997), we must be aware of our previous accomplishments/previous performances, learn from similar experiences of others (we speak of vicarious experiences), and receive positive feedback that allows us to receive social persuasion. Finally, we must be aware of our emotional and somatic states in judging our self-efficacy, which also allows us to behave more effectively.

Hope is what allows us to persevere until we achieve our goals. Hope is a thought process in which the individual is able to conceptualize goals that they can achieve. The individual is also able to think of paths to achieve them that they may sometimes have to modify (waypower). And finally, thanks to hope, the individual also believes in their ability to get started and stay motivated throughout the path until they achieve their initial objective (willpower) (Snyder, 2002). To develop "hope," we must be careful in choosing achievable goals (SMART). We must plan the path by pacing it in small steps and plan alternative paths. We must capitalize on our strengths and on the positive aspects to stay motivated. Finally, we must tell ourselves that obstacles are inevitable on this road, but we can stay positive by telling ourselves that they are part of life and by remembering precisely how we have already overcome obstacles.

There Resilience is our ability, in the face of problems and adversity, to resist and bounce back to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves. Resilience is a reservoir that we have. It is based on confidence, social support, adaptability and determination. Resilience is a skill that can therefore be worked on. It can be worked on using different techniques summarized in the SPARC methodology (Boniwell & Ryan, 2011): work on the Situation encountered, on the Perception of this situation, on the Autopilot techniques that we naturally put in place when faced with this situation, on the Reaction that we adopt as well as on the Cognitive or what we retain from the situation after the fact.

Optimism is defined as the knowledge that one will succeed now and in the future. Optimism is "a stable characteristic of a personality trait that includes a generally positive state of mind or attitude toward the future and a tendency to anticipate favorable outcomes, life situations where a dispositional pessimist would have generally negative expectations of that same future" (Hirsch et al., 2007). First of all, it must obviously be said that optimism should not be a permanent state. Indeed, a certain pessimism is essential when faced with certain risky or uncertain situations, or when listening to the problems of others for example. We must not fall into the positive illusion that would lead to dangerous behaviors. Simply, optimists believe that defeat is temporary, that it is due to a set of circumstances and people at a given moment; they remain unperturbed. Difficult situations then become challenges to surpass oneself. (Seligman, 2011). What is important in optimism is the way you approach things. It is not the reality and the number of positive or negative events that make up your day but the way in which you approach these events positively. positive thinking is therefore the key to realistic optimism. To work on your optimism, you mainly work on "reframing" by trying, for example, to see your situation through the eyes of other people more positively.

Let's return to Thomas Edison. He is often cited as a reference in the field of optimism because he demonstrated the use of all the concepts of psychological capital. Indeed, he set himself a challenge to achieve according to his abilities (sense of self-efficacy), he persevered in the face of more than 10,000 unsuccessful attempts (hope) by mobilizing his ability to bounce back (resilience). All this while remaining optimistic about achieving the challenge he had set for himself.

We have seen that psychological capital is a set of resources that can be improved.

We can also think that Thomas Edison had learned from his first experiment on the light bulb.

One may want to improve one's PsyCap for oneself. This is then an opportunity to work on dimensions such as self-esteem, primary attachments, health and inner peace. One can also develop PsyCap to achieve financial objectives, social recognition or gain notoriety (Hobfoll, 2002). For companies, it is becoming essential to consider the psychological capital of their employees. Just like financial resources, technological and physical resources and human resources (Jensen & Luthans, 2006), the resources of employees' psychological capital help increase the company's competitiveness. (Avolio & Luthans, 2006)

- By Justine Chabanne