Morale during Military Operations: A Positive Psychology Approach

The present chapter has three goals. One is to introduce a definition and model of military morale, drawing from recent theory and research on positive psychology (see Seligman &: Csikszentmihalyi, 2000; Snyder & Lopez, 2002). A second purpose is to review the research that has been conducted on morale in the context of our framework, with a critical emphasis on how issues with conceptualization and measurement have influenced our understanding of morale. A final goal of the chapter is to summarize the results of an investigation of morale during the U.S. peacekeeping operation in Kosovo, and to provide some suggestions for future research examining the determinants and consequences of morale. Ultimately, we hope the present chapter will lay the groundwork for research that will empirically illustrate the importance of morale in military operations, both in terms of mission success and psychological benefits for the service members performing the mission.