hope

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Hope (allegorical representation around 1540)

Hope (. See mittelniederdt. : Hopen "jump" "jump [in anticipation restless]", "fidget") is a confident inner alignment, coupled with a positive expectation attitude, that something desirable will occur without real certainty is about . It can be a specific event, but it can also be a fundamental condition such as ongoing health or financial security. Hope is the comprehensive, emotional and, under certain circumstances, action-guiding human orientation towards the future . Hoping, man is optimistic about the temporality of his existence .

Hope can be accompanied by fear and worry that the desired will not happen. Its opposite is despair , hopelessness , resignation or depression .

Hope is also one of the three Christian virtues : faith , love and hope.

Linguistic use

Hope (Old Greek ελπίς, Latin spes ) initially had no clearly positive connotation that it has in German usage. The Greek word elpis simply means neutral as expectation. Something is expected in the future, and that can be either good or bad.

In German, however, "hope" has a positive meaning. One hopes for the success or the good outcome of something or a situation. Examples of this usage, often in the medical field, where hope has also been a therapeutic principle since the 18th century at the latest, are: There is still hope or the proverb Hope dies last ; also the outdated expressions for “pregnancy” like in hope or also being in good hope testify to this positive sense in which the word hope is normally used. If, on the other hand, the word is in the plural, it usually has a negative valuation in linguistic usage: You shouldn't have any hopes.

If it is to be expressed that the hope is not justified, one speaks of a pipe dream or an illusion ; the opposite of hope is despair .

philosophy

Large-scale Vaclav-Havel quote about hope, found on the gable wall of a block of flats in Weimar in Ettersburger Strasse (out of town on the right)

In Ernst Bloch's theory in particular , hope is also a philosophical principle . Bloch refers to social struggles that are repeatedly carried forward by hope. These hopes flow through - in its own terminology - social developments such as a “ flow of heat ”. As a historical example, he cites the peasants who were defeated in Germany in the Peasant Wars of 1525 , who nevertheless hoped that their demands would be realized by the following generations:

"We move home defeated
- our grandchildren better fight out."

Friedrich Nietzsche writes in Human, All Too Human about hope based on Pandora's box : "Zeus wanted man, no matter how much tormented by other evils , not to throw away life, but to continue, always anew In addition, he gives people hope: it is in truth the worst of evils because it prolongs people's torture. "

psychology

There is no clear definition for the phenomenon of hope in psychology. It is often understood as the expectation that a desired goal will be achieved in the future. While some researchers put more emphasis on the cognitive component of hope, others understand hope as an emotion or affective state.

Snyder's theory of hope

The hope theory of Charles Richard Snyder , whose basic principles he formulated in the 1980s, has received much attention . Snyder describes hope as the motivation to commit to positive results or goals. He emphasizes the cognitive component of hope. For him, hope is a process of reflecting on one's own goals that includes the following two components:

  1. the determination to move towards a goal ( agency )
  2. the expectation that one will find ways to achieve this goal ( pathways )

Based on these two components, Snyder developed different variants of the Hope Scale to measure the individual expression of hope in people. An item for recording the agency component is for example: “I ernergetically pursue my goals.” (For example: I pursue my goals with energy.) An example for recording the pathways component is: “There are lots of ways around any problem. "(For example: There are many ways to deal with a problem.)

Snyder assumes that hopeful people focus more on their goal. They are less likely to become discouraged and look for alternative paths when they encounter obstacles. Hopeless people, on the other hand, tend to get caught up in goal-inhibiting thoughts, find it difficult to generate new solutions, and accordingly give up more quickly. So Snyder et al. a. show that students who are more hopeful achieve better grade averages and are more likely to complete their studies with success.

Criticism of Snyder's theory

Snyder's assumptions have recently been challenged by other scholars. Some criticisms are:

  • His concept of hope overlaps e.g. Sometimes strongly with other psychological constructs such as optimism , self-control or expectation of self-efficacy .
  • The theory does not explain why people have hope even when they cannot see a way to achieve a goal.
  • The theoretical model deviates strongly from everyday psychological ideas of hope.
  • The measuring instruments ( Hope Scales ) emphasize too little that it is about expectations, i. H. about future events and goals.
  • Snyder neglects the emotional side of hope.

Hope as the emotion of expectation

Maria Miceli and Cristiano Castelfranchi classify hope as an anticipatory emotion (anticipatory emotion) . Anticipatory emotions (in addition to hope, e.g. fear ) relate to the expectation of a future event, i.e. H. the mental representation of this event evokes an emotional response. From the point of view of Miceli and Castelfranchi, the prerequisites for the expectation emotion to arise are:

  1. the belief that an event is possible
  2. the desire for the event to occur
  3. the view that one has no or only limited influence on the outcome

Hope is this approach to a mental attitude ( mental attitude , whose basic components are only the objective and faith in the option). Unlike Charles Richard Snyder , Miceli and Castelfranchi assume that hope can arise even when a person has negative expectations and no influence on the outcome. (Example: You expect a person not to come but still hope that they will come.)

According to Miceli and Castelfranchi, one function of hope is to maintain a person's motivation , distinguishing between active hope and passive hope :

  • Active hope protects against a loss of motivation by distancing oneself emotionally from negative expectations. It favors the readiness to look for information that is relevant to the hoped-for event - even if the usual ways are blocked.
  • Passive hope can affect motivation and lead to inactive waiting. From their point of view, possible causes for this are: (a) the belief that the achievement of the goal is completely beyond one's own control or (b) an illusionary thinking that is solely directed towards the desired result and completely ignores possible means of achieving it.

Research by Patricia Bruininks and Bertram Malle suggest that Miceli and Castelfranchi's approach corresponds more closely to the everyday psychological understanding of hope than Snyder's theory of hope. Your study participants described hope predominantly as an emotion characterized by the following characteristics: (a) the weighty importance of the result, (b) the difficulty in influencing the result through your own efforts, and (c) the ongoing investment in the result in form of cognitive and emotional energy - despite contrary prospects.

Positive effects of hope

Scientific studies (which often use Snyder's Hope Scale to measure) show that hope can have positive effects in many areas of life. Some examples are:

  • Hope plays an important role in psychological well-being and physical health.
  • There is a relationship between hope and academic success: hopeful students do better on average.
  • Hope has a positive effect on athletes' performance.

Reflection in religions

Hope - sculpture by Jacques Du Broeucq (1541–1545).
Flowers of remembrance and hope on the train tracks of the unloading ramp in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp , March 2007

Christianity

Believing Christians hope for forgiveness , redemption and eternal life .

Roman Catholic Church

Pope Benedict XVI dedicated an encyclical to hope (“Saved in hope”, Latin Spe salvi from 2007). It says:

“Yes, we have to do everything to overcome suffering , but we cannot get rid of it completely - simply because we cannot shake off our finitude and because none of us is able to use the power of evil, of guilt to get rid of the world that is always - we see it - a source of suffering. Only God could do that : only a God who himself enters history, becomes human and suffers in it. "

Hope was already a key word in the New Testament . Holy Scripture is a source of hope: "... have hope through the comfort of Scripture" ( Romans 15.4  EU ). Salvation is based on hope: "... For we are saved, but on hope" ( Romans 8:24  EU ). In the Christian faith, hope has eternal value: "But now there remains faith, hope, love" ( 1st Corinthians 13:13  EU ). Believing Christians are called to give an account of their hope: “Always be ready to answer to everyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you” ( 1 Peter 3:15  EU ).

Protestant church

The reformer Martin Luther coined the term "the God of hope" in his translation of the Bible in 1545. "May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace ..." ( Romans 15, 13  EU ). So God himself is the source and foundation of Christian hope and confidence. Elsewhere, Luther describes hope as the sum of all Christian teaching:

"In the words 'I hope in the Lord' the sum of the whole Christian teaching is contained, which is not based on appearance but on hope".

Baptists

The Baptist hopes for “God's new world” - this is the title of the last chapter of the account of the faith of the German-speaking Baptists. This outlook is already influencing his basic mood, as he sees being saved as more important than current problems.

Songs

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Hope  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Hope  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wikiquote: Hope  - Quotes

Single receipts

  1. W. Goert: Art. "Hope", in: HWPh, Vol. 3, p. 1157.
  2. ^ Gernot Huppmann: Friedrich Christian Gottlieb Scheidemantel (1735–1796): Country doctor and formerly medical psychologist. In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 18, 1999, pp. 19-32; here: pp. 24–26.
  3. ^ Tong, EW, Fredrickson, BL, Weining, C., & Zi Xing, L. (2010). Re-examining hope: The roles of agency thinking and pathways thinking. Cognition & Emotion, 24 (7), 1207-1215. doi: 10.1080 / 02699930903138865
  4. ^ Snyder, CR (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry , 13 (4), 249-275. doi: 10.1207 / S15327965PLI1304_01
  5. Castelfranchi, Cristiano: Expectancy and emotion . New York, NY, ISBN 978-0-19-968586-8 .
  6. ^ Aspinwall, LG, & Leaf, SL (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 (4), 276-288. doi: 10.1207 / S15327965PLI1304_02
  7. James R. Averill, George Catlin, Kyum Koo Chon: Rules of Hope | SpringerLink . doi : 10.1007 / 978-1-4613-9674-1 ( springer.com [accessed March 4, 2018]).
  8. Patricia Bruininks, Bertram F. Malle: Distinguishing Hope from Optimism and Related Affective States . In: Motivation and Emotion . tape 29 , no. 4 , December 1, 2005, ISSN  0146-7239 , p. 324–352 , doi : 10.1007 / s11031-006-9010-4 ( springer.com [accessed March 4, 2018]).
  9. ^ Snyder, CR (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry , 13 (4), 249-275. doi: 10.1207 / S15327965PLI1304_01
  10. ^ Snyder, CR (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry , 13 (4), 249-275. doi: 10.1207 / S15327965PLI1304_01
  11. CR Snyder, Hal S. Shorey, Jennifer Cheavens, Kimberley Mann Pulvers, Virgil H .: Hope and academic success in college. In: Journal of Educational Psychology . tape 94 , no. 4 , p. 820–826 , doi : 10.1037 / 0022-0663.94.4.820 ( apa.org [accessed March 4, 2018]).
  12. ^ Aspinwall, LG, & Leaf, SL (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 (4), 276-288. doi: 10.1207 / S15327965PLI1304_02
  13. ^ Zhou, M., & Kam, CS (2016). Hope and general self-efficacy: Two measures of the same construct ?. The Journal Of Psychology: Interdisciplinary And Applied , 150 (5), 543-559. doi: 10.1080 / 00223980.2015.1113495
  14. ^ Tong, EW, Fredrickson, BL, Weining, C., & Zi Xing, L. (2010). Re-examining hope: The roles of agency thinking and pathways thinking. Cognition & Emotion, 24 (7), 1207-1215. doi: 10.1080 / 02699930903138865
  15. ^ Aspinwall, LG, & Leaf, SL (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 (4), 276-288. doi: 10.1207 / S15327965PLI1304_02
  16. Miceli, M., & Castelfranchi, C. (2010). Hope: The power of wish and possibility. Theory & Psychology, 20 (2), 251-276. doi: 10.1177 / 0959354309354393
  17. Patricia Bruininks, Bertram F. Malle: Distinguishing Hope from Optimism and Related Affective States . In: Motivation and Emotion . tape 29 , no. 4 , December 1, 2005, ISSN  0146-7239 , p. 324–352 , doi : 10.1007 / s11031-006-9010-4 ( springer.com [accessed March 4, 2018]).
  18. ^ Aspinwall, LG, & Leaf, SL (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 (4), 276-288. doi: 10.1207 / S15327965PLI1304_02
  19. Patricia Bruininks, Bertram F. Malle: Distinguishing Hope from Optimism and Related Affective States . In: Motivation and Emotion . tape 29 , no. 4 , December 1, 2005, ISSN  0146-7239 , p. 324–352 , doi : 10.1007 / s11031-006-9010-4 ( springer.com [accessed March 4, 2018]).
  20. ^ Aspinwall, LG, & Leaf, SL (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 (4), 276-288. doi: 10.1207 / S15327965PLI1304_02
  21. Castelfranchi, Cristiano: Expectancy and emotion . New York, NY, ISBN 978-0-19-968586-8 .
  22. Patricia Bruininks, Bertram F. Malle: Distinguishing Hope from Optimism and Related Affective States . In: Motivation and Emotion . tape 29 , no. 4 , December 1, 2005, ISSN  0146-7239 , p. 324–352 , doi : 10.1007 / s11031-006-9010-4 ( springer.com [accessed March 4, 2018]).
  23. Cheavens, JS, Michael, ST, & Snyder, CR (2005). The Correlates of Hope: Psychological and Physiological Benefits. In JA Eliott, JA Eliott (Ed.): Interdisciplinary perspectives on hope (pp. 119-132). Hauppauge, NY, US: Nova Science Publishers
  24. CR Snyder, Hal S. Shorey, Jennifer Cheavens, Kimberley Mann Pulvers, Virgil H .: Hope and academic success in college. In: Journal of Educational Psychology . tape 94 , no. 4 , p. 820–826 , doi : 10.1037 / 0022-0663.94.4.820 ( apa.org [accessed March 4, 2018]).
  25. ^ Lewis A. Curry, CR Shyder: Hope Takes the Field . S. 243-259 , doi : 10.1016 / b978-012654050-5 / 50015-4 ( elsevier.com [accessed March 4, 2018]).
  26. Luther Lexicon, ed. v. Kurt Aland , Göttingen 1989, 4th edition, p. 181, ISBN 3-525-03272-2
  27. ^ Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer : Basis preach. Basics of the Christian faith in sermons, plus a didactic homiletics for advanced students. VTR, Nuremberg 2010, pp. 21–28: "The basic mood of the saved".