Research Paper
Psychology
E-ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume : 3 | Issue : 7 | July 2017
BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ - A STOREHOUSE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL 1
Duygu Akartuna | Dr. Preetha Menon
2
1
Research Scholar, Amrita Darshanam - International Centre for Spiritual Studies, Amritapuri, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University, India. 2 Assistant Professor (Sr. Gr.), Amrita Darshanam - International Center for Spiritual Studies, Amritapuri, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University, India. ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to identify the Bhagavad Gītā verses depicting Psychological Capital (PsyCap) components: hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism. The Psychological Capital components in Bhagavad Gītā were identified with the help of translations, commentaries and interpretations. A review of literature was performed on Positive Psychology, Psychological Capital components and Bhagavad Gītā. Bhagavad Gītā can be seen as applying the PsyCap components in adversity, solving problems and directing the individual towards a goal-oriented life. Recommendations have been made on the importance of incorporating Sanātana Dharma texts, such as, epics and Veda, into education and research, to highlight their practical implications. This report suggests possible directions for focused research in developing psychological interventions to enhance psychological capital, using insights from Bhagavad Gītā. KEYWORDS: Psychological Capital, PsyCap, hope, efficacy, resilience, optimism, spirituality, Bhagavad Gītā. INTRODUCTION: In the last few decades, there has been a worldwide impact of the teachings of Bhagavad Gītā in the field of work. The verses of Bhagavad Gītā have their own reflections on management affairs and hence they infuse immense interest in modern business management and leadership. The Gītā and similar Sanātana Dharma literature are relevant for today's management and day-to-day life. The Gītā offers valuable case studies in psychology, philosophy, leadership, personal and corporate management. In the field of business education, Indian Management Schools, include in their curriculum, variety of topics from the discourses of Lord Krishna. The Gītā can be seen as one of vintage management tool in personal and operational management, from the ancient times. The trend towards a positive research basis in psychology was initiated by Seligman (2002), who popularized Positive Psychology. The shift of emphasis, from psycho-pathology to positive facets of life, gave evidence of general wellbeing, and betterment in organizations. Luthans (2002) took advantage of the foundation laid by Seligman and put forth the need for an examination of Positive Organizational Behavior (POB). Eventually, Positive Psychological Capital (PPC) was developed as an extension of Positive Organizational Behaviour (POB), to facilitate a comparable and complimentary assessment of human, social and traditional capital. Psychological Capital identifies components such as Hope, Efficacy, Resiliency and Optimism (Luthans, 2002). Initially, these four psychological resources met the criteria to produce exceptional capabilities and outcomes in individuals. Later, the acronym 'HERO within' was initiated to represent these four resources and their importance. He expressed Psychological Capital as PsyCap (Luthans, 2002). The scientific criteria for the psychological resources for inclusion in PsyCap were (1) being based on theory and research; (2) having valid measurement; (3) being state-like (as opposed to dispositional, trait-like) and thus open to change and development; and (4) having a positive impact on desired attitudes, behaviours and, especially, performance. The well-known psychological resources hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism best met these criteria (Luthans, 2012). Later on, psychological resources such as creativity, flow, courage, gratitude, forgiveness, mindfulness, emotional intelligence, authenticity, and spirituality were added to the PsyCap construct (Luthans, Avolio and Morgan, 2015).
omy, and spontaneous actions. Hope has been shown to relate conceptually and empirically to performance in various domains, including the workplace (Snyder, Irving, and Anderson, 1991). Efficacy Efficacy is founded on the work of Bandura (1994) and his Social Cognitive Theory and is defined as people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes. They include cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes. Efficacy is a motivational engine to make the individual choose and welcome challenges, and to use the skills and strengths to meet and excel those challenges. It is a self-inspiration to pursue higher goals and put efforts, together with time investment. When faced with obstacles, it gives an individual endurance to not quit the task (Bandura, 1994). Self-efficacy refers to “one's confidence in his or her ability to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action necessary to execute a specific course of action within a given context” (Luthans and Youssef, 2004). Resiliency Resiliency is defined as "the developable capacity to rebound or bounce back from adversity, conflict, and failure or even positive events, progress, and increased responsibility” (Luthans, 2002). Resiliency is a composite of four components supporting a positive psychological character: a) the capacity to make realistic plans and take steps to carry them out; b) a positive view of yourself and confidence in your strengths and abilities; c) skills in communication and problem solving; and d) the capacity to manage strong feelings and impulses.
Definition of PsyCap PsyCap is an individual's positive psychological state of development and is characterized by: (1) having confidence (self-efficacy) to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks; (2) making a positive attribution (optimism) about succeeding now and in the future; (3) persevering toward goals and, when necessary, redirecting paths to goals (hope) in order to succeed; and (4) when beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond (resiliency) to attain success (Luthans, Avolio and Avey, 2007)
Resiliency is understood under the conceptualization as a developmental process, rather than static outcome or trait. Hence, when individuals are faced with challenges, taking them on as an opportunity and to see the difficulty as something that has happened 'for' the person rather than 'to' the person, will welcome the chance to psychological growth (Luthans, Youssef and Avolio, 2007).
Psychological Capital Components Hope Hope is defined as "a positive motivational state that is based on an interactively derived sense of successful, (a) agency (goal-directed energy) and (b) pathways (planning to meet goals)". The agency (or will power) and pathways (or way power) components of hope make it mostly relevant on self-motivation, auton-
Optimism According to Seligman (1998), optimism is an attributional style that explains positive events in terms of personal, permanent and pervasive causes, and negative events as external, temporary and situation-specific. Particularly relevant to the workplace is realistic flexible optimism, which equips organizational leaders and employees, with the ability to discern when to use optimistic versus pessi-
All of these are factors that you can develop in yourself (Fredrickson, 2003).
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