Seeking Hope in Times of Darkness: Perceived Setbacks in Achieving Goals Predict Increased Motivation for Hope among Disadvantaged Group Members

Within contexts of prolonged oppression and struggle for social change, in which hope is constantly challenged, do disadvantaged group members still want to feel hope? If so, does this desire translate into actual hope? We suggest that specifically when faced with setbacks in the struggle for social change, disadvantaged group members want to feel hope. We consider two competing hypotheses regarding the affective consequences of this desire: the emotion regulation literature predicts that emotional preferences are likely to generate emotional experiences, which means that motivation for hope should lead to increased hope. Alternatively, given that the context of oppression challenges the ability to feel positive about the future, the motivation to feel hope may not be enough to increase hope. We address these questions in a two-wave sample of 429 Palestinians living under military occupation in the West Bank. Our results suggest that particularly in the face of setbacks in their struggle, Palestinians want to feel hope for social change. Nonetheless, their experience of hope does not rise in line with this motivation. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding motivated emotion regulation processes and hope in contexts of oppression.