Hope research
My PhD thesis was on the Psychology of Hope, with supervisors from the University of Sydney and the University of Oxford. This involved interdisciplinary exploration in philosophy, theology and psychology to explore the rich history of reflections of great thinkers on hope over the last 2,500 years in the Western world. It also included a deep dive into current psychological research on hope, including the neuroscience of future-focused thought.
From this, I drew on common themes across these disciplines to develop a clearer understanding of hope to develop a psychological model, called Transformative Hope™. This defines four components of hope that are each able to be nurtured, cultivating the experience of hope. I also developed the statistically validated Hope Scale (questionairre) as a measurement tool for further research. One international examiner stated that my thesis, “represents a significant academic contribution to the multidisciplinary field of Hope studies and deserves the widest possible dissemination.”
As part of this thesis, I conducted research with many hundreds of people to confirm that those who are higher in hope also score better on other wellbeing metrics …
High hope is associated with more optimism, subjective wellbeing, spiritual wellbeing, sense of meaning in life, positive emotions, adaptive coping strategies, beliefs that are protective for trauma, and lower depression, anxiety and stress scores.
Hope is a significant contributor to wellbeing.
So, what is hope?
Hope is not the same as ‘optimism’, which is a passive assumption that the future will turn out well.
Nor is it mere wishful thinking.
True hope is an experience of our whole being, involving a mindset, actions, relationships and emotions. The objects of hope are realistic, important and yet somewhat uncertain.
An ancient metaphor to understand hope is that it requires us to be ‘homo viator’ — pilgrims walking on the way of life.
This pilgrimage begins when are struggling - lost in a valley in the wilderness and realise we must climb a mountain to work out where we want to be. This climb is the experience of developing hope.
At the base we need to believe it is possible that once we are at the top, we will be able to see options for future destinations that are meaningful for us. There are things worth doing the work of hoping for. This possibility thinking is a foundational motivation for our climb.
We also need strategies to cope well and persevere on the climb, and we need to collaborate with people around us to support and help us, and maybe also prayers for strength on the journey and guidance for when we need to choose our destination.
Then, finally, we reach the summit, where we can see the glimpses of where we truly want to be. These glimpses, even though from a distance, help us feel the anticipated relief and joy of reaching somewhere better. They motivate us to persevere together towards the life we want. That is the pilgrimage of hope — not the destination itself, but a crucial motivational part of the journey.
