The Courage Quotient: How Science Can Make You Braver

by Robert Biswas-Diener

The keys to understanding and developing courage. This groundbreaking book reveals that courage is more about "managing" fear than not feeling it, and that courage can be learned. The author explains that most courageous people are unaware of their own bravery, and all of us have some form of courage in our lives now, to start with. The book is filled with illustrative examples, studies, and interviews from Greenland to Kenya, and defines the types of individuals who demonstrate general, personal, and civil courage. The author includes clear guidelines and suggestions for increasing our ability to be courageous. Includes guidelines that show how anyone can ramp-up their courage quotient and develop the qualities that strengthen personal courage. Contains a wealth of examples and anecdotes of real-world courage from a variety of cultures. A prolific writer, the author has a popular blog on "Psychology Today".

The author extols the virtues of personal courage and shows how to overcome fear and stand up for what is right.

Genres: Psychology, Self Help, Leadership, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2012

Reviews

[Brian Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basically the ONLY book on the science of courage.

“Being able to take courageous action is one of the most important, useful, and exciting aspects of being human. Of all our basic virtues, courage is the one that helps us to live exactly the way we want and provides the psychological fuel we need to create, take risks, help others, and face hard times. I am not overstating the case when I say that courageous action is humanity at its finest. This notion is as old as Socrates, who argued that a person is courageous ‘whose spirit retains in pleasure and in pain the commands of reason about what he ought or ought not to fear.’ Embedded in this ancient wisdom is the idea that individuals can live up to their full potential and experience a full life only if they are masters of themselves and not victims of their emotional whims, particularly fear.“

~ Robert Biswas-Diener from The Courage Quotient

Robert Biswas-Diener is known as the “Indiana Jones of positive psychology.”

As per his bio, “his research has taken him to such far-flung places as Greenland, India, Kenya and Israel.” And, important note: “He is afraid of quicksand and snakes.” :)

Robert is also the son of one of the leading positive psychology researchers: Ed Diener. They wrote a book together called Happiness .

I got this book after reading Character Strengths Matter . Robert contributed some wisdom on the science of courage. I heard about this book and, of course, immediately got it. Read it. And, here we are.

This is basically the ONLY book on the science of courage. Although it’s out of print for some reason, I really enjoyed it. (Get the book here.)

Some of my favorite big ideas from this book include:

1. The Courage Quotient - Meet your numerator + denominator.
2. Courage’s Two Flavors - General + personal.
3. Courage Blindness - Let there be sight!
4. Roles - Choose courageous ones.
5. Be Willing to Fail - Reframing.
6. Playing to Win - Have a “promotion focus.”

I’ve summarized those Big Ideas in a video review that you can watch here: https://youtu.be/c5-VZ2kdSyI?si=LLELa...

And I’ve added The Courage Quotient by Robert Biswas-Diener to my collection of Philosopher’s Notes--distilling the Big Ideas into 6-page PDF and 20-minute MP3s on 600+ of the BEST self-development books ever. You can get access to all of those plus a TON more over at https://heroic.us.

[Alain Burrese · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Courage Quotient: How Science Can Make You Braver" by Robert Biswas-Diener is an interesting look at a topic that has long held my interest - courage. Living a military and martial art life makes courage one of the traits most admirable and pursued by those of us living a warrior lifestyle. But it doesn't stop there. While courageous acts of bravery during war and emergency situations are to be admired and serve as role modeling behavior, the courageous acts by those who stand for what they believe, such as the greatly, and rightly, admired Rosa Parks and her defiant act of courage against the unjust segregation of her time, should equally be examples all can strive for.

So this scholarly look at courage, combined with recommendations to increase one's "courage quotient," was not only interesting for me, but provided guidance for the warrior arts I teach. Because, what good is teaching martial arts if one does not also help students develop honorable character and courage. I would hope my black belts not only be able to defend themselves from would be attackers, but also develop the courage to make peaceful stands like Rosa Parks or lead adventurous lives uninhibited by fears that would keep them from being all and obtaining all they desire. So it was with these lofty ideas that I looked toward this book for assistance.

I found it. I enjoyed the book, learned from it, and now have a better understanding of certain aspects of courage, where it comes from, and how we can actually learn courage and take courageous action to be the best we can be in all areas. The author states that bravery is a skill that can be learned, practiced, and used daily. Yes daily. This book will get you on the right course.

There are four main parts: Part 1. A crash course in courage has two chapters that focus on your courage quotient and measuring courage. Part 2. increasing courage by controlling fear has chapters on riding the emotional see-saw and thinking magically. Part 3. Increasing courage by boosting the willingness to act has chapters on trying defiance, being out of the "in crowd," and being willing to fail. The fourth part is the conclusion that includes a chapter on from the research to real life and two appendices: a test to help determine your own courage quotient and a short appendix on locating your own brand of courage. (I would have liked more with these appendices.)

Personally, I wish the author would have gone deeper into a few of the topics at times, and I'd have liked to have seen even more practical examples and exercises to practice and use courage daily. But maybe that is our assignment as readers. We need to look within ourselves and increase our bravery.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and found some useful information to help me and those I teach gain courage and live more bravely.

[Solamedeo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book. There are summaries at the end of each chapter. Applicable strategies, references to studies, psychological terms, bibliography, personal stories. Very digestible. It feels like a scientific (in a popsci way) self-help book.

One thing that I've found problematic is how the author outlines one of the key factors of courage to be moral value which contributes to the well-being of oneself/others without taking away the dignity of others ("Whats is Courage?" section of Chapter 1). And yet, when Biswas-Diener portrays the early settlers facing the dangers of the New World as being courageous ("Courage Is Cultural, Like Food and Language" section of Chapter 2), he just glosses over the immoral and bloody aspects of early US history and westward expansion. I wish he'd make the given example more nuanced, or give a better example of cultural courage.

[Poppy Lee (燕) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never knew I could view courage, or any "soft" skill for that matter, in such a way.

Robert has dissected courage as something that can be contagiously spread and imbued into others through mirroring, and though an inner quality can be designed through external, intentional ones.

It's a hopeful view of courage especially for ones, who feel that they are less courageous by nature <3

[Darren Soon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that puts name to the struggle i have with personal courage. Reframing it as a quotient breaks it down for me to work on the numerator or the denominator depending on my personal strengths

[Zibby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for a Masters project... great pearls mixed in. Nice, inspiring food for thought.

[Long Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part empirical exploration of courage as a psychological phenomenon, part self-help, and part autobiographical sprinkles from the author's own experiences. Chapter 4 is particularly interesting coming from a scientist, but is a nice practical approach to our reality (the premise is that since we all exhibit a certain level of superstition and magic in our thinking, why not take advantage of it and adopt good luck charms?). I wonder if the reverse will also be true, that once we come to adopt our good luck charm, we will perform worse when we realize we don't have the charm at hand.

The book also does a quick run through some of the more famous studies/experiments in psychology (Milgram, Asch, Zimbardo, etc.), which is welcoming should the reader be unfamiliar with psychology. The tone is a casual academic one, easily understandable and by no means technical in its jargon. Perhaps because it is an academic tone overall though that detracts somewhat. Reading about courage generally gives one a sense of awe, a feeling here subsumed by the scientific inquiry. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course, but be prepared, for this is half a thinking book, and half a motivational. It is not written like popular self-help books, it is a scientific take on courage.

[Lana Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Courage Quotient" has several aspects that I liked, i.e. The Courage 50, personal stories and techniques to relieve tension. However, I was disappointed in the title promise about science. The science the author utilized was Personal Surveys.

I was surprised how much space the author gave to the use of an object to help boost courage. For example - a rabbit's foot. Even more surprising was he seemed to encourage it. What he didn't mention was what happens if one looses that object. It would seem to me an object would bring a false sense of courage that would vanish along with the lost object.

I liked that prayer was mentioned as one of the things people call upon to boost courage. Prayer is always available and God is always accessible.

[Jim Byrne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great little book. I read it a few years back, when I felt in need of bolstering my courage, in the face of life's challenges. It worked! I became braver in those challenging contexts. I still maintain those gains, years later; and I have loaned the book to at least two or three of my counselling clients, who stood in need of strengthening. (Indeed, I believe somebody has failed to return it to me! :-( )) I strongly recommend this book (but not loaning it! :-))

[Luigino Bottega · Rating 5 out of 5]

We're all potential heroes, but courage doesn't move by itself from us to others. We all have fear, what matters is how we respond to the unknown. Courage is the result of belief, imagination, simulation and preparation. If we prepare our mind with positive thoughts, care and love towards the outside world, we’ll behave like heroes, especially in crucial moments when we need to act for the common good.
Inspiring book!

[Annette Dunlap · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far, so good.