What is Hope

Hope extends to convictions that are based on goal-directed thinking.

The theory of hope was offered by Snyder

Only those priorities with significant importance to the individual are considered to be important to hope. Goals can be short-term and long-term goals, they can also differ with some very straightforward and others very challenging in relation to the difficulty of achievement.

Hoping can be approach-oriented (that is, to accomplish the desired objective) or preventative (to avert an unexpected event) (Snyder, Feldman, Taylor, Schroeder, & Adams, 2000). Hope is unnecessary where we are assured of achieving our goals. Where we are assured that we will not, then we become hopeless.

Hope has two main components:

• Pathway thinking: Ability to plan pathways to reach desired goals. It relates to the production of alternate routes when original ones are blocked (”I’ll find a way to solve this“). This extends to the paths we take to achieve our desired objectives.
• Agency thinking: encouragement for these pathways to be used. It is affiliated with energetic personal statements of self-talk, such as “I will keep going” and motivational conversations, such as “I will keep going”

There are positive emotional sets for high hopers and negative emotional sets for low hopers. Ample meaning must be added to a targeted pursuit before the person continues the hopeful process.

Development of Hope

• The development of hope begins in childhood. Infants gain object constancy and pointing skills by the end of the 1st year that leads to paths to goals.
• In the 2nd year, children understand that they should instigate goal-oriented behaviors to achieve paths to desired goals. They recognize obstacles and learn to make paths around them. Children who are firmly attached to their parents and have ample encouragement generate hope.
• During pre-school years (3-6 years), language learning, interest in storytelling, etc., facilitate further growth in the development of obstacle pathways.
• There is rapid development in intuitive thought skills, reading and memory skills, social perspective-taking abilities, abstract listening skills in middle childhood and pre-adolescence, which provide opportunities for hopeful planning.
• Youngsters develop logical thinking skills in puberty. Such abilities make it easier to handle complex problems, including growing parental autonomy; building exclusive intimate relationships; and designing career plans. Despite setbacks and obstacles, these difficulties offer possibilities for hopeful preparation and hopeful pursuit of plans.

There may not be hope for children who are neglected, abused, or subjected to parental conflict. But resilience and optimism may be built by children raised in an especially stressful climate.

Hopeful people have failures in their lives, but they feel they can respond to difficulties and cope with adversity. They feel less negative feelings and create alternatives to accomplish their objectives.

Types of hope

There are various forms of hope, according to Julie Neraas, Associate Professor at Hamline University, and author of Apprenticed To Hope: A Sourcebook for Tough Times.

• Inborn Hope: Basic disposition unless adults threaten it.
• Chosen Hope: This is a kind of hope in which, of all possibilities, you want to believe in the best positive outcome.
• Borrowed Hope: It’s another person hoping for the best for you, and you’re hoping to borrow their hope for you from yourself.
• The hope of the Bargainers: It’s the kind of hope we bargain for when faced with a difficult challenge, or when our lives are struck by a crisis.
• Unrealistic Hope: This kind of hope wishes for things to happen that are far-fetched, impossible, and unlikely.
• False Hope: This is constructed around a dream or a mystical wish. It results from a truth distortion.
• Mature Hope: This kind of hope is based on an awareness that it is worthwhile, but things work out.

What does Hope predict?

It is closely linked to other indicators, such as self-efficacy, motivation, and self-esteem. Hope ratings in academia, athletics, physical activity, transition, and psychotherapy have good effects.

At the beginning of college, Higher Hope Scale scores expected stronger cumulative grade point averages and if students remained in school (Snyder, Shorey, et aI., 2002).

Higher Hope Scale scores have been correlated with different measures of elevated happiness, satisfaction, optimistic feelings, getting along with others, etc. in the field of adaptation (Snyder, Harris, et aI., 1991).

How to maintain hope in difficult times?

Start by just acknowledging: Know that optimism doesn’t actually mean believing that everything will still be amazing if you’re someone who finds it tough or even feels foolish trying to be positive right now. Comas-Diaz says that being optimistic doesn’t have to be about reaching for the bright side or deluding ourselves into believing everything will be just fine. Hope is just just a (realistic) hope that there will be something positive and that you have some influence over it.

Try to keep some semblance of a self-care routine: Cultivating hope begins with the ability to authentically understand how you feel at a given moment, recognize how you would like to feel, and constructor draws on the resources of your life to help you feel that way. This may begin with individual activities or self-care habits, but it will and should also include engaging in actual, healthy relationships.

Learn to identify and possibly reframe negative thought patterns: If you try to be positive and feel that right now it’s just too complicated, ask questions and try to reframe certain habits of negative thinking. For example, we are reframing the optimistic refrain “It’s going to be okay,” as psychologist Todd DuBose recently wrote for the APA, as something all about “No matter what, we’re in this together.”

Remember that you can still control some things in your life: Being positive is partially focused on getting a sense of control; it is the concept that you can affect the environment around you and that the decisions you take can have a beneficial effect on your life. But, clearly, there are certain conditions which are out of your grasp. You’ll need to draw on flexibility in those situations.

Lean into honest, authentic connections: If you don’t have the room to admit that you are having a hard time with that right now, it’s very hard to become more optimistic. That’s why the first step in creating hope is to look at your situation head-on and understand the real horror of it, preferably with other people who are professional active listeners, Tedeschi says.

References

Carr, A. (2011). Positive psychology: The science of happiness and human strengths. London: Routledge.

Jacoby, S. (2020, May 22). 5 Ways to Be Hopeful, Even When It’s Really, Really Hard. Retrieved November 10, 2020, from https://www.self.com/story/how-to-be-hopeful

Lopez, S. J., & Snyder, C. R. (2011). Oxford handbook of positive psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.