Hope

Hope Theory

From the late 1950s and into the 1960s, several theorists focused on the concept of hope and centered the explanation of hope around a person's positive expectations for goal attainment. Simply stated, hope was viewed as the perception that one's goals can be attained. Over time and across research examining the construct, the conceptualization of hope evolved into a much more complex and diverse theory. According to Rick Snyder and his colleagues, hope is a cognitive set that is composed of agency (goal-directed determination) and pathways (planning ways to meet stated goals). These components add up to the capacity for subjective evaluation of goal-related capabilities, or hope.

The agency component of Snyder's hope theory involves the cognitive energy or willpower that allows an individual to get moving toward his or her goal. The agency component also can be defined as an individual's perceived ability to begin movement toward a goal, and to maintain that movement along the envisioned pathway until the desired goal is reached. Self-affirming statements, such as “I know I can do this” and “I will get this done,” are frequently associated with the agency component. Individuals who usuallyengage in this type of self-affirming self-talk are those with high levels of hope, whereas individuals who do not typically engage in this type of self-talk are those with low levels of hope.

The pathways component of Snyder's hope theory involves an individual's perceived ability to produce effective routes to reach his or her goals. In order to attain imagined goals, people must be able to perceive that they have the ability to develop possible routes to reach their goals. Individuals with high levels of hope tend to have the ability to create many possible routes to reach their goals, whereas individuals with lower levels of hope may have difficulty creating plans to reach their desired goals. Goals can be long term and/or short term, and they should be attainable by the individual. Effective goal-directed thinking requires both agency thoughts, or goal-directed energy, and pathways thoughts, or the perceived capacity to create workable routes toward goals. The Hope Scale developed by Snyder measures both the agency and pathways components of hope.

Hope and Aspects of Well-Being

Psychological well-being involves an active engagement in the world, a sense of meaning and purpose in life, and a connection to people or objects beyond oneself. Hope theory provides researchers and practitioners with a framework for understanding and enhancing well-being and adaptive ways of functioning. The remainder of this entry discusses research that links hope to specific aspects of well-being, including academic success, physical health, psychological adjustment, and meaning in life.

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