Twenty Years in the Science and Theology Alpine Climbing Club

The important role of hope in the author's thinking is acknowledged. While natural theology is important in its proper place, Christian theology centers on the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Its discourse will need to avail itself of the power of symbol.     

Hope as an irreducible concept

I argue for a novel answer to the question “What is hope?”. On my view, rather than aiming for a compound account, i.e. analysing hope in terms of desire and belief, we should understand hope as an irreducible concept. After criticizing influential compound accounts of hope, I discuss Segal and Textor's alternative of describing hope as a primitive mental state. While Segal and Textor argue that available developments of the standard definition do not offer sufficient conditions for hope, I question the deep‐seated idea that desire and belief are even necessary conditions for hope. My suggestion is that we should take seriously the fact that we hope in a great variety of ways and should question the search for elements that are common to all cases. A promising alternative follows the Wittgensteinian idea that cases of hope are related in terms of family resemblance, i.e. are multiply realizable on the ontological level while falling under the non‐definable concept of hope.     

From Traumatic Language to Posttraumatic Language: The Development of Language in Therapy According to the “Phenomenon of Hope” Model

Hope and language are part of the human development process starting from birth and continuing through all the stages of development. They are tools that help us to cope in complex situations. Environmental failure produces trauma, which damages the “self” and impairs the development of hope and language. The individual experiences “pessimistic hope” and “drained hope” and begins using “concrete language” and “pseudo-language.” Such profiles and languages indicate functional difficulties, including the inability to establish mature intimate personal relationships. When traumatic events such as those experienced in military combat compound childhood trauma (environmental failure), mental and functional difficulties buried by our defense systems may rise to the surface and worsen and chronic complex trauma may ensue. Psychotherapy for chronic complex trauma is complex. The therapeutic approach that is used in the “hope phenomenon” model includes five therapy stages that allow us to examine the effect of a trauma on personality and function. Here we examine the link between the five stages of therapy and the use of language. According to my experience, patients use concrete language and pseudo-language in the beginning of the therapeutic connection. As this connection and therapist-patient alliance evolves and deepens and the client and therapist move through the various stages, the patient then starts to use “plural language.” Concrete language and pseudo-language are used in the pessimistic hope and drawn hope stages, respectively, until a profile characterized by a realistic and mature hope emerges. This profile goes hand in hand with an ability to use plural language. This article examines the development of hope and language in a complex posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patient who was treated using the hope phenomenon model. Consent for the therapy details to be used in this article was given by the patient.     

Differential Prediction of Resilience Among Individuals With and Without a History of Abuse

The authors evaluated the differential relationship between mutuality, hope, and spirituality for predicting resilience among 253 young adult participants (47 men, 206 women; M = 22, SD = 5.7) with a history of abuse (n = 64) and without (n = 189). Backward stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed statistically significant models in populations with a history of abuse (p < .01, R ² = .43) and those without (p < .01, R ² = .36), with no statistical difference in the variance between models (z = 0.51, p = .30). Implications for counselors are provided.     

家庭功能与流动青少年认同整合的关系:希望与父母文化持守的作用

本研究采取整群抽样的方法对来自广东省三所民办中学的1345名流动青少年进行问卷调查,探查流动青少年的家庭功能对其认同整合的影响,以及希望和父母文化持守在其中所起的作用。结果表明：（1）流动青少年的家庭功能正向预测了认同整合。（2）希望在流动青少年的家庭功能与其认同整合两者间起部分中介作用,家庭功能既对认同整合产生直接影响,也通过希望对认同整合产生间接影响;（3）流动青少年的父母文化持守调节了家庭功能与认同整合的关系。     

领导者的希望和自我效能感对其主观幸福感的影响

该研究采用问卷调查法,检验领导者的希望和自我效能感对其主观幸福感的影响作用。通过对来自重庆市各县、市、区政府机关、公检法和事业行政单位的237名领导者进行调查,将搜集的数据进行层次回归分析、中介效应检验和优势分析,结果显示：希望和自我效能感是领导者的主观幸福感的显著正向预测变量;自我效能感在领导者的希望与其主观幸福感之间有显著的完全中介作用;增强领导者的希望与自我效能感水平对提升领导者的主观幸福感有显著的促进作用。     

希望和乐观——两种未来指向的积极预期

在积极心理学中,希望和乐观虽然存在很大程度的概念重叠,但二者本质上是不同的概念。希望的概念核心是以目标为中心的动力思维和路径思维,乐观的概念核心是指向未来的积极预期。作为两种指向未来的积极预期,希望和乐观属于人格特质的范畴,共同成分是对目标的信念;二者的差异性在于对未来预期的方式和对预期事件的个人控制。相关研究发现,相对于乐观,希望通常是主观幸福感和学业成就更好的预测指标。未来研究应明确希望和乐观的整合,验证是否存在控制点的调节作用,并开展跨文化研究。