Hopeful feelings : inducing the feelings of hope and examining its social and cognitive effects

The experience of hope predicts a host of positive outcomes. However, to date, the psychology of hope has paid little attention to hope as an emotion, focusing instead on hope as a sense of agency and effective goal pursuit, thus limiting our knowledge of the cognitive and social implications of hopeful feelings. Four studies tested various manipulations intended to induce hopeful feelings distinct from general positive mood. Images of baby faces and tree saplings were found to successfully induce hopeful feelings, even when controlling for happiness, compared to adult faces or full-grown trees, respectively. With these manipulations we aimed to test if hopeful feelings predict greater global focus and prosocial behaviors. While Study 5 found that hope condition lead to greater global focus compared to a neutral condition, this was not replicated in Study 6. Study 7 found that the hope condition led to a greater amount of helping behavior (but not willingness to help), compared to a neutral but not happiness condition.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology (MU)

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Missouri--Columbia

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Edwards, Megan Elizabeth

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• King, Laura

Language dc:language.iso

eng, English

DOI

https://doi.org/10.32469/10355/95197

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:mospace.umsystem.edu:10355/95197