We have always been drawn to stories of people acting with valor and intrigued to know why and, more important, how they do so. As psychotherapists, we heard daily accounts of people rising to the occasion to overcome adversity and improve their lives. The strength they demonstrated sounded like, looked like, and felt like courage. We each went to the literature in the early 2000s to learn more about this strength, and we each made the same discovery: most researchers did not examine everyday courage in their work. While philosophers have speculated about courage for centuries, the assembled psychological research on courage easily fits into a briefcase. But this situation is changing. A small but growing body of scholarly work now demystifies the courage that all people possess and call on in time of need. The contributors to this volume play an important role in the developing science of courage. Their chapters answer three fundamental questions about any new area of inquiry : What is it? How does it come about? How can understanding it improve individual lives, organizations, and society? Our purpose in addressing these questions goes beyond the academic : We hope to inspire psychologists and other behavioral and social scientists to consider courage in their work, whether it be basic research or applied practice.

Based on the 2007 Courage Summit--Preface.

The philosophical roots of the concept of courage / Daniel Putman -- Folk conceptualizations of courage / Shane J. Lopez ... [et al.] -- Defining the features of courage: a search for meaning / Christopher R. Rate -- Is courage an accolade or a process? A fundamental question for courage research / Cynthia L. S. Pury and Charles B. Starkey -- Courage: a psychological perspective / S. J. Rachman -- The courage to be authentic: empirical and existential perspectives / Cooper R. Woodard -- The courageous mindset: a dynamic personality system approach to courage / Sean T. Hannah, Patrick J. Sweeney, and Paul B. Lester -- What is moral courage? Definition, explication, and classification of a complex construct / Silvia Osswald ... [et al.] -- Courage in combat / Dennis McGurk and Carl Andrew Castro -- Developing courage in followers: theoretical and applied perspectives / Paul B. Lester ...[et al.] -- Understanding the role of courage in social life / Monica C. Worline -- Conclusion -- The future of courage research / Cynthia L. S. Pury, Shane J. Lopez, and Melinda Key-Robert.