Last week, I had the honor of giving the keynote address at the Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity Key Awards event. I am always grateful for opportunities to share the science of human flourishing because they allow me to translate psychological research into insights that people can immediately apply in their own lives and communities. For this event, I focused specifically on hope, which feels especially relevant at this moment when there is so much pessimism about our nation’s future and humanity’s capacity to solve big challenges.
Many people think hope is just wishful thinking or naive optimism. But the science tells a very different story. Hope is a cognitive and motivational resource essential to both individual and societal flourishing, and it can be cultivated and shared.
The leading psychological theory of hope, known as hope theory, conceptualizes it as involving three essential components. First, hopeful people have clear goals. They know what they want to achieve. Second, they engage in what psychologists call pathway thinking. This means they can identify multiple strategies for reaching their goals and can adapt when obstacles arise. Third, they demonstrate agency thinking. This is the motivational component of hope, the enduring belief that they will accomplish their goals and the determination to persist when facing setbacks.
Using this framework, research consistently shows that hope matters tremendously for individual flourishing. Hopeful people experience better mental and physical health. Hope strengthens relationships and helps people derive more meaning from their lives. Hopeful students earn higher grades. Hopeful athletes perform better in competition. Hopeful employees are more successful in their careers. And hopeful parents manage the challenges of raising children more effectively.
Hope is also crucial for navigating major life difficulties and transitions. For example, hope has been found to help immigrants successfully adjust to new communities. Similarly, hope helps people cope with serious health diagnoses, the loss of loved ones, and other difficult life circumstances. When facing uncertainty and adversity, hope provides the psychological foundation that allows people to keep moving forward.
Hope is much more than a personal resource. It is a key driver of societal flourishing and human progress. Hopeful people are more trusting of others, more tolerant of those with different beliefs, and more forgiving. These qualities are essential for pluralism, enabling individuals with diverse backgrounds and perspectives to live and work together productively. Hopeful people are also more motivated to engage in community service and take action to address societal challenges. Additionally, hope has been found to increase creativity and innovative problem-solving. When people believe progress is possible and can envision pathways to achieve it, they are more willing to pursue ambitious new ideas and develop novel solutions to big challenges facing humanity.
However, research reveals a concerning pattern. While most Americans report feeling hopeful about their personal future, their families, and their local communities, hope declines dramatically when people think about national and global challenges. In a recent survey we conducted at the Archbridge Institute’s Human Flourishing Lab, 82 percent of Americans said they are hopeful for their personal future and 85 percent are hopeful for their families. But only 56 percent are hopeful for the future of the United States, and just 44 percent are hopeful that humans will make significant progress on big societal and global challenges.
This gap between personal and societal hope means we need to work at broadening hope, helping people extend their personal sense of possibility to address larger challenges. At the same time, we need to focus on spreading hope by reaching those individuals who are struggling with hope even at the personal level. Our research indicates that young adults are less hopeful about their own future and the future of their families than older generations. Additionally, hope and mental health are deeply connected, and young adults also report worse mental health outcomes than older age groups.
So how do we broaden and spread hope? Leaders play a crucial role. Hopeful leadership involves articulating clear and compelling visions of a better future, demonstrating concrete pathways to achieve goals, promoting agency in teams and communities, modeling resilience when facing setbacks, and celebrating past successes to show that positive change is possible. When leaders embody hope, it becomes contagious.
Institutions matter as well. Families, schools, and universities broaden and spread hope when they become places where young people develop clear goals, build agency, and learn pathway thinking. Workplaces promote hope when adults can build skills, develop supportive networks, and see that their contributions make a real difference. Community organizations inspire hope when people unite around a shared positive vision and feel part of something larger than themselves.
We also need hopeful stories. Stories broaden and spread hope when they challenge pessimistic narratives by highlighting human potential and possibility, show agency and pathway thinking in action, feature people of all backgrounds successfully overcoming challenges, and remind us of the remarkable progress previous hopeful generations made possible. We live in an era dominated by doom and gloom. We need more stories that inspire people to believe in what they and others can accomplish.
As we navigate the challenges of our time, we must work to broaden and spread hope. The good news is that this is within our power. Each of us can be an ambassador of hope by leading with hope, promoting hope within our institutions, and sharing hopeful stories. By doing so, we can create a culture where more people have the psychological resources they need to improve their own lives and make a positive difference in the world.
Have a great weekend!
Clay