Hope - Positive Psychology & Storytelling - Module 3
Hope
Video : https://youtu.be/9dctaJLWnrc (Links to an external site.)
Story 3 : Dirt into Gold - (Folktale from Myanmar)
Story Based Reflection: In your journal for your own reflection.
- How do you feel about the Young man (Thuza's) goal of turning dirt into gold?
- What role does his wife (Theingi) and Father- in- law (Thet) play in this story?
- What kind of Hope did Thuza believe in?
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Knowing Hope:
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
~Emily Dickinson
According to the dictionary definition Hope is "an expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen in the future".
Hope has been used widely to denote something which may be wishful or unattainable. But Positive Psychology has a completely different definition for Hope.
Hope has been studied in depth by many researchers, some view it as an emotion ( R.Lazarus 1999) , some others see it as a behavior and cognitive process while others call it a positive motivational state ( Snyder et al 2002). What is widely used and well known is Hope Theory by Dr.Charles R Snyder from the University of Kansas , Lawrence ( 2002)
Some of the earliest studies done on Hope is in 1994 by Dr. Charles Snyder who put forth The Hope Theory - Rainbows in the Mind in his book The Psychology of Hope - You can get there from here; clarified the concept of Hope as a way of thinking and feeling, a dynamic, cognitive motivational system.
Definition of Hope: Perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways.
Hope Theory : Snyder conceptualized Hope as a stable personality trait which is a goal oriented cognitive process and related to our general expectations about our future. Hope according to this theory is about:
Goals – having clarity on what we want and where we want to go
Pathways – having the drive or agency to know what are the routes we can take to reach the goal. Also called Way Power or Pathways Thinking.
Motivation/ Agency – having the drive or agency to steer ourselves onto this pathway. Also called as Will Power or Agency Thinking.
Outcome value : How important the goal is to us.
Barriers : The obstacles, both internal and external that prevent us from achieving the goals.
One must have a goal, will power and a way power to achieve it. This helps us experience the feeling of Real hope and there is no place for False Hope.
In simple terms Hope is knowing what we want and where we want to go (Goals), finding different ways to reach the goals by facing challenges and disappointments (Pathways) and having belief in self to persist (Agency).
People who scored highly on Will and Way power using the Adult Hope
Scale (AHS) were also able to shape their future better. This means Hope
is not a magic wand or wishful thinking but a positive
appraisal of the situation and understanding how to shape our thoughts
and feelings towards a definite goal. So yes, Snyder's Hope theory is
actually telling us where there is a will, there is a way, so find your motivation and you will find the way to achieve what you want.
Watch this video on Hope Theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki5jECFhHmk (Links to an external site.)
Though it may appear a bit complex. The salient point we need to take back from this theory is that Hope is a motivator; it helps us move towards our goals using a definite path, will and motivators.
By Clight92 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47874739
~
Dr. Martin Seligman started his work
in 1960's focusing on Learned Helplessness,
depression, fear and trauma at the University of Pennsylvania. A turning
point in his life occurred when his 5 year old daughter pointed out his
grouchiness and inability to change. This led him down a totally
different track of identifying what makes us Happy and how one can
practice such widely known constructs as Hope and Optimism and Gratitude
in a scientific way.
In his book called Hope Circuit – A psychologists journey form Helplessness to Optimism , a memoir which captures the life journey of Seligman, he says :
“You expect the best in the future and you plan and work in order to achieve it. Hope, optimism, and future-mindedness are a family of strengths that represent a positive stance toward the future. Expecting that good events will occur, feeling that these will ensue if you try hard, and planning for the future, sustain good cheer in the here and now and galvanize a goal directed life.”
Hope involves having the perseverance and the belief (Self Efficacy) that we have what it takes to achieve the goal and then we go about finding the Way which involves some wisdom and creativity, always powered by the belief that one can achieve it (again self efficacy).
Self Efficacy : Refers to how strongly you believe you can use your abilities to achieve your goals. It differs from self esteem, which is how much you value yourself. A person with strong self efficacy will view challenges as something to be faced and managed rather than a threat to be avoided. Self efficacy beliefs can exist for different aspects of our life and these beliefs can have positive effect on our life as well. Saying "I think I can" has greater impact on well being.
Though Self Efficacy has not been elaborated here. It forms one of the cognitive states that influence and enhance positive emotions. The others being: Hope, Optimism, Self Efficacy, Mindfulness, Courage and Flow.
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Now, let us look at the different kinds of Hope:
Types of Hope : Depending on how you look at the situation, one can have real hope or false hope, no hope or lost hope.
Real Hope : Is where the goal, pathway and motivation are present.
False Hope : occurs when the goal itself is unattainable, like hoping a certain diet fad will help you lose weight.
Lost Hope : when the pathways or motivation is lost, as in giving up pursuing a course that looked interesting, but turned out to be boring.
No Hope : Is knowing there is no available path to the goal and no motivation as well.
Inborn Hope or dispositional Hope - Some people are born with a Hopeful nature.
Chosen Hope - where people make an informed choice to be hopeful, like we are all hopeful Vaccinations will soon make our world Pandemic free!
Bargainer’s Hope – Where we hold intention for an event to occur smoothly, we make a bargain with the Universe. This in itself is not wrong as long as one is aware it comes from a positive explanatory style.
Mature Hope – Is when we are hopeful regardless of the outcome, which is the most mature of all Hope. Eg: The hope held by Nelson Mandela that apartheid will be eliminated.
What kind of Hope do you tend to practice? Think about it.
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Ways to Increase Hope
- Reflect upon Goals you have set and those that have been achieved
- Have pathways to achieve goals
- Have greater belief in self ( self efficacy) and increase self esteem.
- Develop the Will to persevere
- Celebrate Positive moments
- See Failure as feedback to look for new pathways
- Instill Hope in another person
~
In a study connecting Hope, Positive Affect and Emotional Creativity, (Research Scholar Dhruvata Sharma & Dr.Roopa Mathur - IIS Jaipur - July 2016), propose a positive co relation between Hope and Emotional Creativity, also between Hope and Positive Affect. The subsequent study found that having Hope and positive emotions helps build a bridge to find creative emotional responses to situations. Here they viewed Emotional creativity as a way to combine emotions and cognition in ways that are useful to the individual. Emotional Creativity is a way to flourish, create new and divergent ideas in order to achieve our potential.
"If Hope is the ability to see the silver lining, Emotional Creativity is the capability to create the silver lining"
Do read this article:
This a research study paper and may contain technical details. Do read the last conclusion to get an idea of what the study finding tells us.
Please copy and paste on your browser:
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Thinking of a Metaphor for Hope may be considered as a creative emotional response to help us as individuals to build resources. Try this out:
Metaphor –The great scientist, Albert Einstein said Imagination is more Powerful than Knowledge. Use your imagination to instill Hope in yourself.
In the poem above you saw how Hope is seen as a Bird that saved the sailor – as you are aware seeing Birds at sea means land is not far, which is a sign or symbol of hope. We experience such metaphors around us all day. Ray of Sunshine - A Cloud with Silver lining – Light at the end of the tunnel – an eternal flame etc, are examples of Hope metaphors.
Imagination also has the power to heal and help us replace negative images with positive ones. This is an unconscious way of building Hope within us.
This is a Bonsai Fig Tree. In spite of growing in a small pot, it continues to grow and flourish. Every 6 months all the leaves of this Bonsai is shed and it regrows fresh leaves again. This is a symbol of Hope for me.
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HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS MODULE:
- Hope is an emotion and expectation for the future
- Realistic Hope is a dynamic, cognitive motivational system
- Hope is having goals and a having a clear way and will to achieve it ( Goals, Pathways Thinking + Agency Thinking)
- Will or Agency thinking requires perseverance and self efficacy ( belief in self - an attitude of 'I think I can')
- Way or Pathways Thinking requires wisdom and creativity
- 7 Types of Hope -Inborn/Dispositional, Real, False, Lost, No , Bargainers, Mature.
- Positive co relation between Hope, Emotional creativity, and Positive affect - ("if Hope is the silver lining, Emotional Creativity is the capability to create the silver lining!")
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Reflection Task for Hope :
- Create a Metaphor of Hope for yourself. Let it be original.
- Sit down, close your eyes and imagine what this word and feeling means to you. Now that some images come to your mind. Draw it out as a picture and color it out.
- You can also Photograph the symbol – taking from nature or anywhere you are inspired
- Identify One Goal for yourself – something that you Hope to achieve. Write it down. What are 5 steps you need to take to reach this Goal.
- Who or What are your motivators to
achieve this? ( Goal, Way and Will). Discuss/ Journal it.
~~
Reference :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope#cite_note-19
D Sharma, R Mathur (2016), Linking Hope and Emotional Creativity:
Meditational Role of Positive Affect, International Journal of Indian Psychology, Volume 3,
Issue 4, No. 58, ISSN 2348-5396 (e), ISSN: 2349-3429 (p), DIP: 18.01.044/20160304, ISBN:
978-1-365-24976-
Free PDF of Pos Psych Workbook to Download.pdf
Maddux, J. E. & Kleiman, E. (2021). Self-efficacy. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrieved from http://noba.to/bmv4hd6p
Image credit:
By Clight92 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47874739
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