Making Hope Happen: Create the Future You Want for Yourself and Others (34 page)

To attain hope, you need to create momentum
: This three-part conceptualization of hope was first discussed in detail in Snyder,
The Psychology of Hope
.

Chapter 3: Nexting and Prospecting

On our morning walks
: The term
nexting
was used in a related, yet different context in D. Gilbert,
Stumbling on Happiness
(New York: Knopf, 2008). Gilbert says that nexting occurs when “brains are continuously making predictions about the immediate, local, personal future of their owners without the owners’ awareness” (p. 6). As it relates to hope, nexting occurs when vivid images of the recently visited future are shared and refined.

The story begins 1.6 million years ago
: T. Suddendorf and M. C. Corballis, “Mental time travel and the evolution of the human mind,”
Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs
123 (1997): 133–67; T. Suddendorf, D. R. Addis, and M. C. Corballis, “Mental time travel and the shaping of the human mind,”
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences
364 (2009): 1317–24.

Standing man:
Suddendorf and Corballis, “Mental time travel and the evolution of the human mind.”

This cognitive leap
: E. S. Savage-Rumbaugh, “Hominid evolution: Looking to modern apes for clues,” in D. Quiatt and J. Itani, eds.,
Hominid Culture in Primate Perspective
(Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1994), pp. 7–49.

Fast-forward 1. 5 million plus years
: S. L. Kuhn, M. C. Stiner, D. S. Reese, and E. Güleç, “Ornaments of the earliest Upper Paleolithic: New insights from the Levant,”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
98 (2001): 7641–46. For a more critical discussion of whether Neanderthals buried their dead and believed in an afterlife, see S. Ralph, “Shanidar IV, a Neanderthal flower
burial in Northern Iraq,”
Science
190, no. 4217 (1975): 880–81, and R. H. Gargett, “Grave shortcomings: The evidence for Neandertal burial,”
Current Anthropology
30 (1989): 157–90.

They dedicated a special site
: Ibid.

These practices are an early sign
: Ibid.

With big brains
: C. A. Banyas, “Evolution and the phylogenetic history of the frontal lobes,” in B. L. Miller and J. L. Cummings, eds.,
The Human Frontal Lobes
(New York: Guilford Press, 1999), pp. 83–106.

According to psychology’s Bischof-Köhler hypothesis
: D. Bischof-Köhler, “Zur Phylogenese menschlicher Motivation,” in L. H. Eckensberger and E.-D. Lantermann, eds.,
Emotion und Reflexivität
(Vienna: Urban und Schwarzenberg, 1985), pp. 3–47; D. Bischof-Köhler and N. Bischof, “Is mental time travel a frame-of-reference issue? Open peer comment to: Suddendorf T. & Corballis M.C.: The evolution of foresight: What is mental time travel and is it unique to humans?,”
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
30, no. 3: 316–17.

In December 1994, during a hike
:
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
is a Werner Herzog film. Werner Herzog’s website, including his appearance discussing the documentary on
The Colbert Report:
http://www.wernerherzog.com/index.php?id=64
.

art in Chauvet Cave is now preserved
:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/
.

Neuroscientist Tali Sharot
: T. Sharot,
The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain
(New York: Pantheon, 2011). This is a neuroscientist’s lively inside-the-brain view of why most people are optimistic or hopeful about life.

Even more surprising is how creative
: “The Evolving Minds of Humans,” interview with Antonio Damasio on
Science Friday,
National Public Radio, Nov. 12, 2010,
http://www.npr.org/2010/11/12/131274187/the-evolving-minds-of-humans
.

Our special awareness
: A. Varki, “Human uniqueness and the denial of death,”
Nature
460 (2009): 684; L. L. Carstensen, D. M. Isaacowitz, and S. T. Charles, “Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity,”
American Psychologist
54 (1999): 165–81.

For example, accounts
: E. Tulving, D. L. Schacter, D. R. McLachlin, and M. Moscovitch, “Priming of semantic autobiographical knowledge: A case study of retrograde amnesia,”
Brain and Cognition
8 (1988): 3–20.

This work is done in a brain area
: D. R. Addis, A. T. Wong, and D. L. Schacter, “Remembering the past and imagining the future: Common and distinct
neural substrates during event construction and elaboration,”
Neuropsychologia
45 (2007): 1363–77.

The most meaningful episodes
: A. Damasio,
Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain
(New York: Pantheon 2010).

This “prospecting” function of the hippocampus
: Addis, Wong, and Schacter, “Remembering the past and imagining the future.”

When we anticipate a new situation
: Ibid.

Training in our brain’s simulator
: Ibid.

Now the prospection pipeline
: Ibid.

Your rACC
: Ibid.

The final key station
: Banyas, “Evolution and the phylogenetic history of the frontal lobes.”

The prefrontal cortex functions
: E. K. Miller and J. D. Cohen, “An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function,”
Annual Review of Neuroscience
24 (2001): 167–202.

One recent study
: S. J. Peterson, P. A. Balthazard, D. A. Waldman, and R. W. Thatcher, “Neuroscientific implications of psychological capital: Are the brains of optimistic, hopeful, confident, and resilient leaders different?,”
Organizational Dynamics
37, no. 4 (2008): 342–53.

Emotions are as contagious
: E. Hatfield, J. T. Cacioppo, and R. L. Rapson, “Emotional contagion,”
Current Directions in Psychological Science
2 (1993): 96–99.

They’ve begun to map systems of “mirror neurons”
: G. Rizzolatti and L. Craig-hero, “The mirror-neuron system,”
Annual Review of Neuroscience
27 (2004): 169–92. For a more accessible summary of this work, see D. Goleman,
Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships
(New York: Bantam, 2006).

For decades the most striking object
: Mary Tutwiler, “Hadrian’s waltz out of New Iberia,”
Independent
, May 6, 2008,
http://www.theind.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2456&Itemid=96
; Holly Leleux-leux-Thubron, “Hadrian sells for nearly $1 million,”
Daily Iberian
, Dec. 10, 2008,
http://www.iberianet.com/news/hadrian-sells-for-nearly-million/article_7bed4996-8f75-5b36-97fa-40487d54fdc6.html
; Christie’s listing:
http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5157992
.

Chapter 4: Hope Matters

The Walruff Brewery
: Paul Cauthon, “Everything old is brew again: The Old Walruff Brewery was killed by prohibition, but its legacy lives on in Free State,”
Lawrence Journal-World
, May 27, 2010,
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/may/27/everything-old-brew-again/
; illustration from 1880:
http://www.worldwest.net/photos/2010/may/27/192620/
.

“This led me to dabble”
: Ibid.

Meanwhile, he and three friends
:
http://mercarchives.wordpress.com/about/
.

Chuck’s start-up brewery was
: Chad Lawhorn, “Free State Brewery’s success built on humble beginnings of founder Chuck Magerl,”
Lawrence Journal-World
, May 25, 2010,
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/may/25/free-state-brewerys-success-built-humble-beginning/
.

Today, Chuck’s local supporters have only one regret
: Ibid.

It took another campaign
: Mark Fagan, “Free State to start bottling beer: New production center in east Lawrence to enable regional distribution,”
Lawrence Journal-World
, Nov. 30, 2007,
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/nov/30/free_state_start_bottling_beer/
.

Then one night, only weeks
: Sophia Maines, “Firefighters extinguish two-alarm blaze at new Free State Brewery facility in east Lawrence,”
Lawrence Journal-World
, Oct. 6, 2008,
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/oct/06/electrical_engineer_help_determine_cause_free_stat/
.

The bottling facility became less a Rube Goldberg operation
: Phil Cauthon, “Free at last: After months of anticipation, bottles of Free State beer on sale Friday,”
Lawrence Journal-World
, May 20, 2010,
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/may/20/free-last-after-months-anticipation-bottles-free-s/
.

Chuck says his is the “classic start-up story”
: Lawhorn, “Free State Brewery’s success built on humble beginnings of founder Chuck Magerl.”

All told, the science of hope
: B. Reichard, J. Avey, S. J. Lopez, M. Dollwet, and S. Marques, “Having the will and finding the way: A review and meta-analysis of hope at work,”
Journal of Positive Psychology
(2013); S. J. Lopez, B. Reichard, M. Dollwet, and S. Marques, “Relation of hope to academic outcomes: A meta-analysis” (under review); J. Cheavens, M. W. Gallagher, and S. J. Lopez, “The relation of hope to depression and anxiety: A meta-analysis” (in progress).

“Eighty percent of success is showing up”
:
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/1903.html
.

Absenteeism is one of the biggest problems
:
http://www.schoolleadership20.com/profiles/blogs/let-s-focus-on-chronic-absenteeism-by-hedy-chang-and-robert-balfa
.

The data show, that by third grade
: Ibid.

We measured the hope of students
: S. J. Lopez,
All-American High School
(Omaha, NE: Gallup, 2009).

Showing up is not just a problem in schools
:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/150026/Unhealthy-Workers-Absenteeism-Costs-153-Billion.aspx
.

Management professor James Avey
: J. B. Avey, J. L. Patera, and B. J. West, “The implications of positive psychological capital on employee absenteeism,”
Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies
13 (2006): 42–60.

Given these findings
: Ibid.

Your new team is charged
: S. J. Peterson and K. Byron, “Exploring the role of hope in job performance: Results from four studies,”
Journal of Organizational Behavior
29 (2008): 785–803.

Accordingly, in another study
: S. J. Peterson, F. O. Walumbwa, K. Byron, and J. Myrowitz, “CEO positive psychological traits, transformational leadership, and firm performance in high-technology start-up and established firms,”
Journal of Management
35, no. 2 (2008): 348–68.

This hope-productivity link
: Relevant articles include the following: F. Luthans, B. Avolio, J. Avey, and S. M. Norman, “Positive psychological capital: Measurement and relationship with performance and satisfaction,”
Personnel Psychology
60 (2007): 541–72; F. Luthans, B. Avolio, F. Walumba, and W. Li, “The psychological capital of Chinese workers: Exploring the relationship with performance,”
Management and Organization Review
1 (2005): 249–71; K. Luthans and K. Jensen, “The linkage between psychological capital and commitment to organizational mission: A study of nurses,”
Journal of Nursing Administration
35 (2005): 304–10; F. Luthans, S. M. Norman, B. J. Avolio, and J. B. Avey, “The mediating role of psychological capital in supportive organizational climate–employee performance relationship,”
Journal of Organizational Behavior
29 (2008): 219–38; P. R. Magelleta and J. M. Oliver, “The hope construct, will, and ways: Their relationship with self-efficacy, optimism, and general well-being,”
Journal of Clinical Psychology
55 (1999): 539–51; S. Mansfield, “The relationship of CEO’s and top leadership teams’ hope with their organizational followers’ job satisfaction, work engagement, and retention intent” (Ph.D. diss., Regent University, 2008), available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (UMI No. 3292257); S. J. Peterson and K. Byron, “Exploring the role of hope in job performance: Results from four studies,”
Journal of Organizational Behavior
29 (2008): 785–803; S. J. Peterson and F. Luthans, “The positive impact and development of hopeful leaders,”
Leadership and Organization Development Journal
24 (2002): 26–31; S. J. Peterson, F. O. Walumbwa, K. Byron, and J. Myrowitz, “CEO positive psychological traits, transformational leadership, and firm performance in high technology start-up and established firms,”
Journal of Management
35
(2009): 348–68; A. Rego, C. Marques, S. Leal, F. Sousa, and M. P. Cunha, “Psychological capital and performance of civil servants: Exploring neutralizers in the context of an appraisal system” (manuscript submitted for publication, 2010); A. Rego, F. Sousa, C. Marques, and M. P. Cunha, “Authentic leadership promoting employees’ psychological capital and creativity” (manuscript submitted for publication, 2010); A. Rego, F. Sousa, C. Marques, and M. P. E. Cunha, “Hope and positive emotions mediating the authentic leadership and creativity relationship” (unpublished, 2010); A. Rego, F. Machado, S. Leal, and M. Cunha, “Are hopeful employees more creative? An empirical study,”
Creativity Research Journal
21 (2009): 223–31.