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UTOPIAN ANTICIPATIONS: PERSONAL HOPES AND ADJUSTMENT TO UNEMPLOYMENT (EXPECTANCY, PERSONAL CONSTRUCT THEORY, INTENTIONALITY)
Abstract
The fundamental postulate of Kelly's Psychology of Personal Constructs (1955) emphasizes the anticipatory nature of human behavior. Kelly's constructivist position presaged current interest in future expectancy and intentionality among cognitive psychologists. Contemporary theorists such as Nuttin (1985) recognize that anticipated and hoped-for future events are psychologically present on the representational level and may influence present behavior. However, little is known of specific relationships between future hopes and present adjustment. In this study, four hypotheses relating characteristics of future hopes to adjustment of the unemployed were examined. Personal hopes were elicited by means of six TAT-like cards, each designed to tap a particular category of future hopes identified in a review of utopian literature. Subjects' core hope constructs were then transferred to a Rep test for structural analysis. Four measures of aspects of future hopes were correlated with adjustment as measured by the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale and the Ellsworth Profile of Adaptation to Life. As hypothesized, good adjustment was found to correlate positively with hopes characterized by high sociality. The measurement of sociality was accomplished by a content scale developed for this study. Inclusion of a sociality measure was based on the recognition that hope is not simply an individual quality, but is developed and sustained in the context of relationships. Permeability is a Kellian concept referring to the capacity of a construct to remain open to change while retaining identity. The permeability of hopes was assessed by a content scale developed for this study. Confirmation of the permeability hypothesis suggests that the person who actively admits revised elements to his future hopes will function better in the present than the person whose hopes are closed to change. Greater meaningfulness of vocational hopes correlated negatively with adjustment to unemployment, the correlation reaching significance only after refining the scoring procedure. No support was found for a fourth hypothesis. Implications for psychotherapy with the unemployed were discussed. Recommendations were made for future studies of the psychology of hope.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy
Recommended Citation
CANNELL, JOHN EDWARD, "UTOPIAN ANTICIPATIONS: PERSONAL HOPES AND ADJUSTMENT TO UNEMPLOYMENT (EXPECTANCY, PERSONAL CONSTRUCT THEORY, INTENTIONALITY)" (1986). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8609797.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8609797