Hardiness: An Operationalization of Existential Courage

Abstract

Existential psychologists emphasize the ongoing search for meaning in life that involves us in the ubiquitous decision-making process. Regardless of content, each decision involves choosing a future, unfamiliar path, or repeating a past, familiar path. Although choosing the future is most consistent with continuing to elaborate life’s meaning, it also brings ontological anxiety, as expressed in fear of uncertainty and possible failure. Consequently, existentialists believe that to choose the future regularly requires courage. Without courage, one may choose the past regularly, which stagnates the quest for meaning. Hardiness, comprised of the attitudes of commitment (vs. alienation), control (vs. powerlessness), and challenge (vs. security) is offered as an operationalization of existential courage. Hardiness has been shown in research to enhance performance and health, despite stressful changes, and to increase perceptions and actions consistent with choosing the future. Hardiness can now be assessed and trained to increase existential courage.