Audaciously Defiant: Cultivating Courage in the Face of Fear

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Antidote to Anxiety

Can you think of a time in which you displayed courage? The term ‘courage’ conjures up images of heroes and leaders braving daunting circumstances. Firefighters who rush headlong into an inferno, servicemen and servicewomen assigned to peacekeeping roles in contested regions in the world are some of the professions we associate with courage. We recognize courage and heroism in myth and folklore – stories of men and women who confronted seemingly insurmountable challenges, persisting despite feeling frightened, discouraged, or hopeless. But we can see courage in our everyday lives as well. You need not rush headlong into a fire to be considered courageous. Try recalling instead, a time in which you found yourself facing difficult challenge or struggle. It could be the time you had to deal with a major health crisis. Or the time you found yourself heavily in debt and falling behind on your financial commitments. Or perhaps even the time you decided to (finally) walk away from an abusive relationship. What were you thinking and feeling when you were faced with these difficult circumstances? And importantly, what did you do during these challenging periods? Life throws at us a variety of unexpected challenges – but within us, lies an inner conviction of our capabilities and a sense of resolve – an antidote to fear, and a resource that stands defiant in the face of life’s most challenging events. Many of us are more courageous than we realize.

The one discrete emotion that has been the subject of psychological research is fear. And that is no surprise given how fear has long served as our psychological response system to threats and dangers. Prolonged fears cripple our day-to-day functioning, however, and this can be problematic. So, it comes as no surprise why psychological research has focused so much on understanding the roots of maladaptive fears – phobias and problematic anxiety, for instance. But we’ve only starting to understand how courage could remedy maladaptive fears.

Courage – psychological courage, specifically, is the strength in facing one’s destructive habits and challenges; it is perseverance in the face of fear [1]. Philosophers see courage as a character virtue. Aquinas saw courage as the “steadfastness of mind under outstandingly difficult circumstances.” Aristotle equated courage as the golden mean between cowardice and foolhardiness, while Immanuel Kant reasoned that courage as the resolve in resisting unjust moral opposition. Common across both the scientific and philosophical view of courage is the idea that this virtue helps us stand in ‘reasoned audacity’ of one’s fears. It is neither cowardice nor recklessness in the face of our greatest challenges. Courage is also evident in the Finnish concept of sisu – embodied fortitude and the ability to draw upon our inner strengths to sustain us toward long-term goals [2], suggesting that cultures may share a similar view on courage is. Recent psychological work considers that courage takes one of three forms – physical courage (such as life-saving heroics), moral courage (whistle-blowing) and vital courage (persisting through surgery or therapy) [3].

What Courage Predicts

Much of the existing research suggests that courage is a skill that can be cultivated and developed. One study showed that highly courageous people scored lower on baseline levels of anxiety. This study, by Peter Muris and colleagues, is noteworthy for being one of the first to show that courage is a strength that can be developed in youth. Sampling children aged 8-13, Muris and his team scored young respondents on a courage scale and also asked them to describe how they responded to a range of demanding or difficult situations. The children listed actions such as rescuing a sibling who fell into a swimming pool, pushing away a bully who was beating up their friend, and auditioning for a performance as responses to the difficult scenarios presented to them. The researchers found that children who scored higher on the courage scale and responded to these vignette situations courageously displayed lowered anxiety symptoms – even after controlling for other personality characteristics [4]. In another study, researchers examined courage and its effects on high school students and found that this strength led to lower tendencies to avoid one’s problems and their feelings of helplessness. The researchers conclude by suggesting courage as an “educationally effective response in the face or presence of fear [5].”

Courage continues to serve us well after we leave our early schooling environments. A study of 500 Italian adults aged 18-60 years old showed that courage explained the links between personality and coping. The researchers state that previous studies found a relationship between trait extraversion and effective coping, but it is only by including courage that the link becomes clearer. Extraverted people tend to report higher levels of coping with challenges – and this is because courage prompts them to appraise their difficult situations as controllable and manageable. Courage, in short, equips individuals with the capacity to cope with one’s demands [6]. Finally, research conducted within work settings showed that the link between a leader’s behavioural integrity and their performance was also explained by leader courage. This study, by Michael Palanski and colleagues, showed that when leaders were more consistent between what they said and how they acted, they were also more likely to be better leaders. The conviction to act following one’s thoughts and actions explained why leaders with high integrity also make for better leaders [7].

Cultivating Courage

When was the last time you were faced with a situation that demands all – and more, or you? Was it a time you displayed physical courage – when you risked yourself to protect or save another? Was it a time you stood up to bullies, difficult colleagues or bosses, or blew the whistle at unethical or inappropriate actions? Or did you brave your struggles and fears when receiving treatment for a serious illness or disease? Recalling and reflecting on these past challenges can remind us that rather than falter in the face of fear, we can emerge stronger from them. We need not replay the rough spots in our personal or professional lives – but you can remind yourself of how you were courageous when it counted, and how that made you more resilient today. We can role model courage from others, but there is perhaps no better person to seek that inspiration from than yourself.

Reference:

[1] Putman, D. (1997). Psychological courage. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 4(1), 1-11.

[2] Lahti, E. E. (2019). Embodied fortitude: An introduction to the Finnish construct of sisu. International Journal of Wellbeing, 9(1).

[3] O’Byrne, K. K., Lopez, S. J., & Petersen, S. (2000). Building a theory of courage: A precursor to change. In 108th annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.

[4] Muris, P., Mayer, B., & Schubert, T. (2010). “You might belong in Gryffindor”: Children’s courage and its relationships to anxiety symptoms, Big Five personality traits, and sex roles. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 41(2), 204-213.

[5] Martin, A. J. (2011). Courage in the classroom: Exploring a new framework predicting academic performance and engagement. School Psychology Quarterly, 26(2), 145-160.

[6] Magnano, P., Paolillo, A., Platania, S., & Santisi, G. (2017). Courage as a potential mediator between personality and coping. Personality and Individual Differences, 111, 13-18.

[7] Palanski, M. E., Cullen, K. L., Gentry, W. A., & Nichols, C. M. (2015). Virtuous leadership: Exploring the effects of leader courage and behavioral integrity on leader performance and image. Journal of Business Ethics, 132(2), 297-310.

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