Three studies examined the conceptual and psychological differences between hope and related mental states. In Study 1, participants provided definitions of hope as well as optimism, want, desire, wish, and the non-anticipatory state of joy; in Study 2, participants wrote about a time when they had experienced each of these states. These definitions and stories were coded for a number of psychological features that were then used to distinguish the different states. Study 3 mapped the differences among the six mental states into a multidimensional conceptual space. Overall, hope is most closely related to wishing but distinct from it. Most important, hope is distinct from optimism by being an emotion, representing more important but less likely outcomes, and by affording less personal control. The importance of combining a folk-conceptual perspective with a more traditional analysis of appraisal for understanding differences among psychological constructs is discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Aspinwall, L. G., & Brunhart, S. M. (2000). What I do know won’t hurt me: Optimism, attention to negative information, coping, and health. In J. E. Gillham (Ed.), The science of optimism and hope: Research essays in honor of Martin E. P. Seligman (pp. 163–200). Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press.
Aspinwall, L. G., & Leaf, S. L. (2002). In search of the unique aspects of hope: Pinning our hopes on positive emotions, future-oriented thinking, hard times, and other people. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 276–288.
Averill, J. R., Catlin, G., & Chon, K. K. (1990). Rules of hope. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Averill, J. R. (1994). The eyes of the beholder. In P. Ekman & R. J. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of emotion (pp. 7–14). New York: Oxford University Press.
Gottschalk, L. A. (1974). A hope scale applicable to verbal samples. Archives of General Psychiatry, 30, 779–785.
Loewenstein, G., Weber, E., Hsee, C., & Welch, N. (2001). Risk as feelings. Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 267–286.
Maier, S. F., Peterson, C., & Schwartz, B. (2000). From helplessness to hope: The seminal career of Martin Seligman. In J. E. Gillham (Ed.), The science of optimism and hope: Research essays in honor of Martin E. P. Seligman (pp. 11–37). Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press.
Malle, B. F., & Knobe, J. (1997). The folk concept of intentionality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 33, 101–121.
Malle, B. F., & Knobe, J. (2001). The distinction between desire and intention: A folk-conceptual analysis. In B. F. Malle, L. J. Moses, & D. A. Baldwin (Eds.), Intentions and intentionality: Foundations of social cognition (pp. 45–67). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Oettingen, G., & Mayer, D. (2002). The motivating function of thinking about the future: Expectations versus fantasies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(5), 1198–1212.
Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2001). Values in action (VIA) classification of strengths. Retrieved August 31, 2001, from http://www.psych.upenn.edu/seligman/taxonomy.htm.
Roseman, I. J., Spindel, M. S., & Jose, P. E. (1990). Appraisals of emotion-eliciting events: Testing a theory of discrete emotions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 899–915.
Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology, 4(3), 219–247.
Schwarz, N., & Clore, G. L. (1983). Mood, misattribution, and judgments of well-being: Information and directive functions of affective states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 513–523.
Searle, J. R. (1995). The construction of social reality. New York: The Free Press.
Sethi, S., & Seligman, M. E. (1994). The hope of fundamentalists. Psychological Science, 5, 58.
Snyder, C. R., Harris, C., Anderson, J. R., Holleran, S. A., Irving, L. M., Sigmon, S. T., et al. (1991). The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 570–585.
Snyder, C. R. (2000). Hypothesis: There is hope. In C. R. Snyder (Ed.), Handbook of hope: Theory, measures, and applications (pp. 3–21). San Diego: Academic Press.
Snyder, C. R. (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13(4), 1047–1084.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was supported in part by a training grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. Thanks to Robert Mauro, Gerard Saucier, Marian Friestad, Stacey Pederson, and Gian Gonzaga for their helpful comments on this article. The data for this article were collected at the University of Oregon.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bruininks, P., Malle, B.F. Distinguishing Hope from Optimism and Related Affective States. Motiv Emot 29, 324–352 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-006-9010-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-006-9010-4