Good vibrations: optimism, social network position and resource-attraction capability

• Author(s): Lopes, Luís Miguel Pereira
• Date: 2008
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/17311
• Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
• Subject(s): Psychology; Leadership; Networking; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais
• Document Type: Master thesis
• Language: English
• Advisor(s): Cunha, Miguel Pina e
• Contributor(s): RUN

Description

The work reported in this thesis addresses the research question of when and how positive psychological states impact positive behavior and positive organizational development. We present two theoretical essays and three empirical studies to find possible answers to this question and we use a multitude of methodologies with different epistemological assumptions, including quantitative correlation analysis, social network analysis and qualitative grounded theory analysis. In the whole, our work shows that positive psychological states are fundamental to promote individual and organizational higher-levels of performance and well-being. It also points that the capability to induce positive psychological states in others (an “alter-positive” approach) is a powerful way to develop outstanding individuals and organizations. In a broader sense, it stresses the need to promote good vibrations as a fundamental route to create a better world.