Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of desirable outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's own life, or the world at large. As a verb, Merriam-Webster defines hope as "to expect with confidence" or "to cherish a desire with anticipation". Among its opposites are dejection, hopelessness, and despair. Hope finds expression through many dimensions of human life, including practical reasoning, the religious virtue of hope, legal doctrine, and literature, alongside cultural and mythological aspects.
In psychology
American professor of psychology Barbara Fredrickson argues that hope comes into its own when crisis looms, opening us to new creative possibilities. Frederickson argues that with great need comes an unusually wide range of ideas, as well as such positive emotions as happiness and joy, courage, and empowerment, drawn from four different areas of one's self: from a cognitive, psychological, social, or physical perspective. Such positive thinking bears fruit when based on a realistic sense of optimism, not on a naive "false hope". The psychologist Charles R. Snyder linked hope to the existence of a goal, combined with a determined plan for reaching that goal. Alfred Adler had similarly argued for the centrality of goal-seeking in human psychology, as too had philosophical anthropologists like Ernst Bloch. Snyder also stressed the link between hope and mental willpower (hardiness), as well as the need for realistic perception of goals (problem orientation), arguing that the difference between hope and optimism was that the former can look like wishful thinking but the latter provides the energy to find practical pathways for an improved future. D. W. Winnicott saw a child's antisocial behavior as expressing as a cry for help, an unconscious hope, meaning an unspoken desire for a positive outcome for those who are in control in the wider society, when containment within the immediate family had failed. Object relations theory similarly sees the analytic transference as motivated in part by an unconscious hope that past conflicts and traumas can be dealt with anew.
Hope Theory As a specialist in positive psychology, Snyder studied how hope and forgiveness can impact several aspects of life such as health, work, education, and personal meaning. He postulated that three main things make up hopeful thinking:
Goals – Approaching life in a goal-oriented way. Pathways – Finding different ways to achieve your goals. Agency – Believing that you can instigate change and achieve these goals.
In other words, hope was defined as the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways. Snyder argues that individuals who are able to realize these three components and develop a belief in their ability are hopeful people who can establish clear goals, imagine multiple workable pathways toward those goals, and persevere, even when obstacles get in their way. Snyder proposed a "Hope Scale" which considered that a person's determination to achieve their goal is their measured hope. Snyder differentiates between adult-measured hope and child-measured hope. The Adult Hope Scale by Snyder contains 12 questions: 4 measuring 'pathways thinking', 4 measuring 'agency thinking', and 4 that are simply fillers. Each subject responds to each question using an 8-point scale. Fibel and Hale measure hope by combining Snyder's Hope Scale with their own Generalized Expectancy for Success Scale (GESS) to empirically measure hope. Snyder regarded that psychotherapy can help focus attention on one's goals, drawing on tacit knowledge of how to reach them. Similarly, there is an outlook and a grasp of reality to hope, distinguishing No Hope, Lost Hope, False Hope and Real Hope, which differ in terms of viewpoint and realism.
Contemporary philosopher Richard Rorty understands hope as more than goal setting, rather as a metanarrative, a story that serves as a promise or reason for expecting a better future. Rorty as postmodernist believes past meta-narratives, including the Christian story, utilitarianism, and Marxism have proved false hopes; that theory cannot offer social hope; and that liberal man must learn to live without a consensual theory of social hope. Rorty says a new document of promise is needed for social hope to exist again.
In healthcare
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