Hope Theory: How Pathways Thinking Can Help Your Clients

Watching the news, I sometimes feel hopeless about how humans treat one another and the environment we share.

And yet, when I step into the world, connect with others, and witness everyday acts of kindness, I find myself filled with hope. Ultimately, it’s a choice. We can choose hope over despair, desperation, and despondency (Snyder, 2002).

Rick Snyder’s hope theory (2000) recognizes hope as an ongoing and dynamic process involving goal-directed energy and planning to meet those goals (Colla et al., 2022).

This article explores the importance of hope theory in positive psychology and highlights how pathway thinking can help drive meaningful change.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our five positive psychology tools for free. These engaging, science-based exercises will help you effectively deal with difficult circumstances and give you the tools to improve the resilience of your clients, students, or employees.

Understanding Hope Theory: Goals, Agency & Pathways

In the mid-1990s, Rick Snyder (1994), a professor at the University of Kansas, launched his hope theory in his book The Psychology of Hope: You Can Get There From Here.

He continued to refine the theory throughout the 2000s until he died in 2006 (Colla et al., 2022).

Snyder’s hope theory (2000, 2002) is built on the belief that hope is a positive motivational state reliant on the successful combination of two key elements:

• Goal-directed agency: the motivation and determination to pursue goals
• Pathways (planning to meet goals): the ability to identify the necessary strategies and routes to achieve those goals

Hope theory recognizes the dynamic interplay and positive connection between agency and pathway thinking to deliver a cumulative experience of hope (Colla et al., 2022).

Simply put, hope involves both the willpower to act and the ability to find ways to reach desired outcomes (Snyder, 2000).

Hope theory continues to evolve and is recognized as “one of the key theories underpinning the development of positive psychology” (Colla et al., 2022, p. 3).

However, its critics point out its individualistic focus and failure to consider contextual and emotional factors (Colla et al., 2022).

Hope Fatigue: Why People Get Stuck

Hope is one of the key predictors of wellbeing throughout our lifespan. As a result, it’s no surprise that poor mental health is often linked to loss of energy and fatigue due to a lack of hope (Snyder, 2000).

Hope fatigue, in particular, can be found in clients experiencing poor psychological and physical wellness, along with those mentally exhausted or recovering from trauma (Steffen et al., 2019; Grigoras & Ciubara, 2024).

However, anyone can become stuck in a bad situation. As a result, they may become tired of maintaining hope and believe that only something miraculous can help them transform their lives and create a flourishing future (Seligman, 2019).

Understanding the factors that enable hope to emerge and sustain itself, particularly when faced with challenging environments and events, can help clients mitigate hope fatigue (Colla et al., 2022).

Hope fatigue and feelings of being stuck need not be forever. Hope theory and positive psychology have many ways of helping clients move forward and transform their lives with hope. Helpful strategies can include fostering social support, focusing on meaningful goals and how to achieve them, and building resilience to unforeseen difficulties (Snyder, 2000; Seligman, 2011).

A Closer Look at Pathways in Hope Theory

Losing hope can lead to apathy. When things go wrong, clients often progress through stages of hopelessness (Snyder, 2000):

Stages of hopelessness

Hope

↓

Rage

↓

Despair

↓

Apathy

Clients can avoid or reverse the downward spiral by finding multiple, alternative pathways to their desired outcomes (Snyder, 2000).

Multiple “routes to the desired goals are absolutely essential for successful hopeful thought” (Snyder, 2000, p. 9).

In Snyder’s (2000, p. 10) hope theory, agency (the motivational component) combined with pathway thinking “taps the perceived ability to produce plausible routes to goals,” creating the mental willpower for hopeful thinking.

It can be captured in the following simple equation:

Hope = Agency + Pathways

When both elements are present, the person perceives that they can move from their current situation to their desired one via a chosen route (Snyder, 2000).

A client’s hopeful, goal-focused thinking works as motivation (agency), igniting their ability to plan pathways to achieve their goals (Snyder, 2000).

Ultimately, success may involve more than one route. The client will likely generate multiple strategies to achieve goals and overcome obstacles in their path. Hope generates both preventive and restorative actions that help clients create and sustain positive outcomes (Colla et al., 2022).

Hopeful Adaptation & Pathways Thinking

Hope adaptation refers to our ability to adjust and thrive when confronted with challenges. “Hopeful thinking not only should facilitate success during unimpeded goal pursuits, but it should be especially helpful in the face of impediments” (Snyder, 2000, p. 11).

Pathways thinking remains a vital element of flourishing lives, involving our cognitive ability to identify multiple flexible routes to achieve our goals and overcome difficulties along the way (Colla et al., 2022).

Hope adaptation and pathways thinking highlight the dynamic relationship between motivation and planning and clients’ ability to maintain resilience and goal-directed behavior (Colla et al., 2022).

Together, hope adaptation and pathways thinking enable individuals to perceive barriers as temporary obstacles to be overcome and create contingency plans when they can’t proceed. The process allows them to thrive despite adversity and uncertainty, for example, when progressing to higher education, managing a divorce, or taking on a new role in the workplace (Colla et al., 2022).

Paired with agency (motivation or energy to push forward) in a reciprocal relationship, pathway thinking can drive hope and adaptive functioning.

Recent research suggests expanding Snyder’s original hope theory to include two additional factors that further facilitate hopeful adaptation (Colla et al., 2022):

• “Why power” is intrapersonal and refers to our sense of meaning. It builds on the idea that hope is fueled by long-term goals that align with our personal identity beyond self-interest.
• “We power” is interpersonal and connects with our social resources. It relies on social connectedness, the sharing of resources, and the dynamic interplay between social systems and pathway thinking.

Together, they contribute to both the emergence and sustainability of hopeful adaptation (Colla et al., 2022).

10 Practical Strategies Based on Hope Theory

Hope theory offers our clients many strategies for building and maintaining hope. They can apply them individually or combined (Snyder, 2000; Colla et al., 2022).

1. Goal setting
   Identify and set meaningful goals that are attainable within the time available. Goals should be specific, actionable, and offer clear direction. Clients can ask themselves, “What is important to me? How does this goal contribute to my long-term vision of success?”
2. Develop pathways thinking
   Focus on multiple plans or paths to achieve the goal. Alternative solutions and strategies are helpful for overcoming expected and unexpected obstacles.
3. Enhance agency thinking
   Build and maintain the motivation needed to reach the goal. Intrinsic motivation is long-lasting and relies upon meeting basic psychological needs, including engaging with our sense of connection, control, and mastery (Ryan & Deci, 2018).
4. Anticipate barriers
   Anticipate what could get in the way of successful outcomes. High-hope clients typically embrace alternative pathways when faced with impediments.
5. Revisit pathways and agency
   Continuously assess and revise (where necessary) plans and motivations on the journey toward goal attainment to ensure adaptability and sustained effort.
6. Focus on positive emotions
   Goal-directed thinking supports and relies upon positive emotions. Break the larger goal into smaller milestones. Track progress and recognize and reward success along the way. This will help clients avoid being overwhelmed while encouraging them to manage their emotions and maintain motivation.
7. Learn from past experiences
   Prior successes and failures can be helpful and should not be ignored. Reflect on them to refine goal-directed strategies and create a future-oriented mindset.
8. Collaborate and welcome support
   Promote teamwork. Success needn’t be an individual activity. High-hope individuals typically thrive in collaborative environments, tackling problems together and sharing their wins.
9. Visualize positive outcomes
   Take time out to reflect on what success looks like and how it will feel. Doing so will reinforce purpose and direction.
10. Encourage storytelling and narrative sharing
    Sharing stories of hope, resilience, and success can foster a sense of community and mutual inspiration. That encourages goal-directed and value-led actions.

Each strategy supports the cognitive, emotional, and social resources that build hope, flexible thinking, and thriving across multiple life domains (Colla et al., 2022).

The Benefits of Cultivating Multiple Hopes

Having several important goals across work, relationships, health and beyond serve as a powerful resource for sustained wellbeing, maintaining positive outcomes in multiple life domains (Colla et al., 2022).

Cultivating multiple hopes and practicing flexible hopeful adaptation has the following benefits:

• Helps manage stress and trauma
  Hope supports psychological adjustment, particularly in the face of unexpected ordeals and adversity. ​ As a result, hope can enhance resilience and buffer against the adverse effects of collective trauma and stressful situations (Liu et al., 2017). ​
• Improves academic and life success
  Hope is linked to heightened academic and work achievement and enhanced persistence and coping strategies. ​High-hope individuals perceive obstacles as challenges while developing contingency plans to overcome them (Snyder et al., 2002; Dixson et al., 2017). ​
• Levels social status
  Hope has the potential to mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status and academic achievement by providing the motivation and energy required for goal achievement (Snyder, 2000; Colla et al., 2022).
• Creates more meaning
  Hope is closely linked to our sense of meaning and purpose. It is a valuable source of motivation and structure and can help us create value-led positive outcomes (Colla et al., 2022).
• Improves social connectedness
  High-hope individuals seek connections. They provide support for others in achieving their goals and welcome their help in their personal pursuits (Colla et al., 2022).
• Boosts resilience
  Boosting hope supports generating alternative pathways that help clients identify and implement workarounds when their initial routes are blocked (Snyder, 2000).
• Supports mental
  Hope is a protective factor for mental health, reducing the impact of loneliness, poor family functioning, and challenging times outside of the individual’s control (Pan et al., 2021).

In summary, the dynamic nature of hope supports resilience, goal-directed behavior, and psychological wellbeing, even in the most challenging circumstances (Colla et al., 2022).

More Resources From PositivePsychology.com

We have many resources available for coaches, therapists, and mental health professionals working with clients to boost their hopeful expectations of the future and other related positive emotions.

Our Emotional Intelligence Masterclass© is a six-module emotional intelligence training program for helping professionals to help clients’ improve their access to key emotions such as hope.

Our free resources can support goal-directed agency and planning:

• Willingness, Goals, and Action Plan
  Anticipating obstacles can help clients learn to deal with them when they arise.
• Problem-solving 
  Use this helpful worksheet with clients to clearly state a goal and the problems that stand in their way.
• If-then Planning Worksheet
  Clients can visualize what could go wrong in the future and plan how to handle it.

A highly recommended read is our article: How to Design a Hopeful Digital Environment, which offers practical advice of how to turn digital overwhelm into a healthier and more hopeful environment.

More extensive versions of the following tools are available with a subscription to the Positive Psychology Toolkit©, but they are described briefly below:

• A Letter From Your Best Day to Your Bad Days

Recalling positive memories can be a positive way to boost hope for the future. Try out the following exercise involving writing letters from your best days to inform your worst ones:

• • Step one – Take time to write a letter to yourself on a particularly good day.
  • Step two – Answer the following prompts to offer a message of support and kindness for a difficult time:

I know that you are likely to forget this on the bad days, but something that you should keep in mind is …

You should remember the things you find helpful in times like this. The activities that might help you now are …

Before you finish reading this letter, remember what makes you feel more hopeful. Something that may give you hope right now is …

• • Step three – Reflect on how it felt to write your letter.
  • Step four – On bad days, when you read this letter, ask yourself: How did this letter make me feel more hopeful?
• Compassion-Based Motivation

Compassion is often a more powerful driver for lasting motivation than harsh criticism. Use this exercise to swap self-criticism for kind support:

• • Step one – Think of a time when you criticized yourself while hoping for positive change.
  • Step two – Write down what personal characteristics you criticized and how you felt afterward.
  • Step three – Now, come up with a gentler, kinder method of self-motivation. What might a loving friend or family member say to you?
  • Step four – How might such a compassionate way of talking to yourself boost your chance of success?

If you want to cultivate a mindset to envision a better future and take purposeful steps toward it, consider this collection of 17 science-backed cultivating hope exercises. Use them to make a measurable impact in coaching sessions, therapy work, workshops, and group interventions.

A Take-Home Message

We may all feel low in hope at times. Life can be difficult. The unexpected can leave us thinking that our troubles will not end or that we will fail to reach our hoped-for positive outcomes.

Psychological theory and research suggest that this needn’t be the case. Hope is not fixed.

The message behind hope theory is that hope is a motivational force that requires goal-directed energy (agency) and the ability to generate multiple strategies for achieving those goals (pathway-thinking; Snyder, 2000).

Crucially, it is not simply a static, immovable personality trait. Hope forms part of a process that can be nurtured using the right strategies, mindset, and practice.

While hope theory has existed for decades, it continues to evolve. Research suggests incorporating a more profound sense of meaning into our actions and strengthening our social connections (Colla et al., 2022).

Mental health practitioners can embrace hope theory to increase the chance of positive outcomes and build flourishing lives for their clients.

They can successfully combine the approach with other positive psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, and acceptance commitment therapy interventions to foster resilience, adaptive thinking, and improved psychological wellbeing across multiple life domains.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our five positive psychology tools for free.