The purpose of this paper is to explore the scope for analysing animal spirits as a social and cultural phenomenon which is heavily influenced by the organisational structure of firms and industries as well as by national structures. Animal spirits are considered in terms of unsubstantiated optimism, low uncertainty perception and low uncertainty aversion. We distinguish between animal spirits with respect to expanding capacity on the one hand and animal spirits with respect to innovation on the other. The first case is analysed primarily in terms of fluctuations in spontaneous optimism and uncertainty perception, while the emphasis for the second is more on the enduring dispositions of organisations and individuals. Animal spirits in both contexts are shown to be influenced by structural factors which are open to policy management.