1. Rutgers - Newark Valeria Vila
Fear of Hope
Rutgers - Newark
Valeria Vila

2. What Is Hope?
Cognition consists of goal-directed motivation, and a plan to achieve goals (Snyder & Sigmon, 2002).
Benefits
Correlated with adaptive coping strategies in veterans (Irving, Telfer, & Blake, 1997).
Hope can positively increase quality of life in patients with schizophrenia (Hasson-Ohayon, Kravetz, Meir, & Rozencwaig, 2009).
Hope and work performance are positively correlated among managers and associates. (Luthans & Jensen, 2002)

3. Why Would People FEAR Hope?
Some people believe that worrying will minimize the effects of negative events (Freeston, Rheaume, Letarte, Dugas, & Ladouceur, 1994).
Anticipating pain helps one to cope with that pain (Hsieh, Stone-Elander, & Ingvar, 1999).
Switch order of these
Ask class why people would fear hope and what would that look like?
Concept of FOH seems to exist, but no validated measure exists. Considering benefits for having hope it’s important that this measurement exists to perhaps identify one reason why people might not be hopeful.

4. Steps to Validating Fear of Hope Measure
Creating a Fear of Hope survey and making sure it statistically holds as a concept
Factor Analysis
Validate measure to test for similarity and dissimilarity
Predictive validity: Does measure predict behavior
This was done by administering an online survey consisting of an exploratory fear of hope survey along with other validated measures.
Reasons for taking additional measures along with fear of hope: to establish convergent and divergent validity or in other words to show that FOH is similar to measures it seems like it should be conceptually similar to, and that FOH is not similar to measures it seems like it should conceptually not be similar too. ALSO to make sure FOH is not too much like any other validated measure that already exists.

5. Fear of Hope Study 1
Participants completed a packet of surveys administered on Qualtrics via M-Turk.
1. Fear of Hope (FOH)
2. Mood measure
3. Convergent and divergent validated measures (random order)
4. Demographics

6. Creating A Fear of Hope Measure
Exploratory Fear of Hope survey
Not At All
Very Little
Some-what A
Lot
A Great Degree
1. When I succeed I worry that people will expect me to succeed again. 1 2 3 4 5
2. It’s when things are going well that its best to be careful.
3. The higher you rise, the farther you’ll fall.
4. The fear of failing makes it hard for me to take risks.
5. I’d rather not try, than to try and fail
6. There’s nothing worse than getting your hopes up, only to fail.
7. I feel more comfortable when my ambitions are modest.
8. The world will bring you down if you rise too high
9. There are things I’d like to try doing, but I’m afraid I’d fail at them.
10. The shame of failing outweighs the pride of succeeding
11. If I start to succeed the world will do something to bring me down.
12. The more things go well the more scared I get that things will go bad.
13. Sometimes hitting “rock bottom” is a comfort because you can’t fall any farther.
14. When I start winning at a game or sport, I get more and more distracted by thoughts of failing.
15. I feel like an imposter when I succeed.
16. It doesn’t feel natural for me to succeed.
17. I feel very uncomfortable doing well at a task, when others are watching.
18. It is foolish to believe in success.
19. Sometimes having hopes and dreams is frightening.
20. Telling people that things are going well can set you up for embarrassment

7. Creating A Fear of Hope Measure: Continued
Exploratory Fear of Hope survey
21. I feel like I am betraying my true self when I succeed. 1 2 3 4 5
22. People I know would not recognize me if I became successful.
23. If I try, and fail, I will make people close to me suffer.
24. When you start doing well it’s hard to ask others for help even if you want it.
25. Sometimes my friends or family seem uncomfortable when I succeed.
26. A problem with success is that people start pushing you to be on your own.
27. I sometimes worry that doing well on my own will lead to loneliness.
28. Being successfully independent means being lonely.
29. Sometimes I think the world will punish me if I start getting too confident about my life.
30. Worrying that bad things will happen is the best way to stop them from happening.
31. I sometimes worry that feeling confident about an outcome will stop it from happening.
32. It is unwise to have faith in one’s future.
33. Being hopeful scares me.
34. I feel safer not placing faith in the future.
35. People who make me feel hopeful scare me.
36. It is very hard for me to just accept feeling hopeful.
37. I feel it is unsafe to be hopeful.
38. People who try to build up my hopes make me uncomfortable.
39. I’m setting myself up for a fall when I’m hopeful.
40. The world does not like it when I’m hopeful.

8. Validating Fear of Hope Measure
Convergent Validity
Affective Control scale (Williams et al., 1997)
Behavioral Inhibition scale (BIS/BAS; Carver & White, 1994)
CES-Depression scale (Radloff, 1977)
State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger et al., 1983)

9. Validating Fear of Hope Measure
Divergent Validity
Dispositional Optimism (Life Orientation Test; Scheier et al., 1994)
Purpose in Life scale (Ryff, 1989)
Rosenberg Self Esteem (Rosenberg, 1965)
Behavioral Activation scale (BIS/BAS; Carver & White, 1994)
Hope scale (Snyder, et al., 1991)

10. Results: Factor Analysis
Factor analysis grouped Fear of Hope survey items into 4 groups (excluding some items that fit onto too many groups or not any)
Self-Risks of Hope/Threat of Hope
Social Risks of Hope
Fear of failure
Fear of Success

11. Self-Risks of Hope Sometimes having hopes and dreams is frightening.
Telling people that things are going well can set you up for embarrassment
I feel like I am betraying my true self when I succeed.
People I know would not recognize me if I became successful
It is unwise to have faith in one’s future.
Being hopeful scares me.
I feel safer not placing faith in the future.
It is very hard for me to just accept feeling hopeful.
I feel it is unsafe to be hopeful.
People who try to build up my hopes make me uncomfortable.
I’m setting myself up for a fall when I’m hopeful.
The world does not like it when I’m hopeful.

12. Social Risks of Hope
If I try, and fail, I will make people close to me suffer.
Sometimes my friends or family seem uncomfortable when I succeed.
A problem with success is that people start pushing you to be on your own.
I sometimes worry that doing well on my own will lead to loneliness.
Being successfully independent means being lonely.

13. Fear of Failure
The fear of failing makes it hard for me to take risks.
I’d rather not try, than to try and fail
There’s nothing worse than getting your hopes up, only to fail.
I feel more comfortable when my ambitions are modest.
There are things I’d like to try doing, but I’m afraid I’d fail at them.
The shame of failing outweighs the pride of succeeding
I feel very uncomfortable doing well at a task, when others are watching.

14. Fear of Success
It’s when things are going well that it's best to be careful.
The higher you rise, the farther you’ll fall.
The world will bring you down if you rise too high
When you start doing well it’s hard to ask others for help even if you want it.

15. Convergent and Divergent Validity (controlling for mood effects)
FOH is positively related to
Affective Control
Anger Control: r = .431**
Positive Emotions Control: r = .585**
Depression Control: r = .541**
Anxiety Control: r = .562**
Behavioral Inhibition scale: r = .360**
CES-Depression scale: r = .494**
State Trait Anxiety Inventory: r = .523**
FOH is negatively related to
Dispositional Optimism: r = -.428**
Purpose in Life scale: r = -.635**
Rosenberg Self Esteem: r = -.547**
Behavioral Activation scale
Reward responsiveness: r = **
Drive: r = -.151*
Fun Seeking: r = -.038
Hope scale: r = -.229**
Combine this slide and the next

16. Next Steps: Experiments with Fear of Hope
Do people with fear of hope take fewer social risks?
Are disappointments in life related to fear of hope?
Can emotional disclosure about disappointments reduce fear of hope?

17. Thank you!