Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Cook, Peter

Area of Concentration

Biopsychology

Abstract

Neuroentrepreneurship research findings have shown parallels between entrepreneurship and parenting that provide novel insights into the biological and neurocognitive underpinnings of entrepreneurial decision making - but only in fathers and male entrepreneurs. There is a distinct gap in the literature in regards to female entrepreneurs and whether or not the neural basis of entrepreneurship and parenting transcends sex. A literature review to explore and bridge the gap between existing neuroentrepreneurship research and previously observed sex differences in parenting is conducted. Results of previous studies suggest a neurocognitive overlap between parenting and entrepreneurship that stems from heightened emotionality and the brain’s reward system, specifically in regards to risk taking and opportunity recognition. A model of Overlapping Biopsychological Underpinnings and Brain Areas that Mediate Neurocognitive Processes Relevant to Entrepreneurship and Parenting is proposed with the overarching goal of encouraging researchers to use neuroimaging to help level the disparity in the number of sex-specific business studies and foster a continuation of the conversation regarding women in positions of executive control within their fields. Lastly, this model and the research presented recasts parenting and entrepreneurship as relying on a specific subset of broadly distributed human neurobehavioral characteristics mediated by a heightened emotionality within the brain’s reward system while underscoring how the parallels in activation between them can lead to a better understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings that contribute to success as parents and as entrepreneurs.

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