For decades and even centuries, poets, philosophers, and social scientists alike have been fascinated and inspired by the human phenomenon of hope.
For decades and even centuries, poets, philosophers, and social scientists have been fascinated and inspired by the human phenomenon of hope. Hope seems to be an existential need in difficult life situations. Without hope, we cannot lead fulfilled lives. Based on various philosophical and psychological theories, the phenomenon of hope can be traced back to five basic elements.
By collective hope, we mean the shared desire for a better future not only for oneself but for the entire social community, the conviction that a better future for all is possible but not necessarily guaranteed or even probable, and trust in the human ability to work together and support each other in realizing a better world despite the current crises and challenges.
Concrete hopes say a lot about what people really want and what motivates them to behave in a certain way. Personal aspirations are goals or areas of life that are of particular importance to the individual and are considered desirable, regardless of whether their probability of occurrence is considered high or low. Therefore, the focus is on the importance of the hoped-for things in people’s lives and not on the subjectively assessed expectation of their occurrence.
The ranking of essential and less critical personal hopes has remained remarkably constant over the last ten years. In the first place, 2025 is once again health as a necessary prerequisite for an active, fulfilled, and happy life. Another recurring hope is the desire for a happy marriage, family, or partnership. Almost all people long for a loving and stable relationship or family. People’s essential hopes include a harmonious life and good and trusting relationships. This emphasizes the need for inner and outer peace and balance. Most people find daily stress, tension, and conflict stressful and long for more independence and self-determination. Furthermore, the hope for a meaningful task is a universal need. In Switzerland, the desire for a meaningful task is generally more important than the desire for a secure job or more money.
It is like human beings to want to fulfill their wishes and realize their ideals. Sources of hope consist of experiences in different areas such as personal achievement (e.g., “I am proud of (professional) successes and achievements”), coping (e.g., “I have solved difficult problems”), social relationships (e.g., “Good relationships with friends”), religious (e.g., “I have felt God’s closeness”), positive experiences (e.g., “I have had great concerts and parties”) and luck (e.g., “I have always been lucky”). In summary, it can be stated that for most people, good human relationships in the family, with friends, and with people they can help are the most common experiences that strengthen their hope. Experiences of personal achievement and overcoming challenging situations also contribute to hope. For a minority of the population, religious experiences are hope-boosting. Hedonic experiences and material things only contribute to strengthening hope for a small number of people.
Kazimierz Wielki University
Dr. Karolina Mudło-Głagolska is a psychologist – researcher and practitioner. She is employed as an assistant professor in the Department of Work and Organizational Psychology at Kazimierz Wielki University. Her research interests include passion (mainly for work and studying), hope, emotion regulation, and human functioning in various life contexts. She is also a co-author of the Polish adaptation of the Perth test battery.
