The Case Against Hopewashing

Were you sure the thing would be better?

It's possible that you did. The main experiment in the studies conducted by Adam Mastroianni was this one. We all respond to that prompt by imagining that things are better.

The study asked people to imagine three different ways in which everyday things could be different. People were asked if the changes would be better, the same or worse. People imagined better things for each item. Cars wouldn't need gas, that's what they thought. They thought that their pets wouldn't shed and wouldn't poop on the carpet. They imagined being better. When we asked how happiness could be different, people said there could be more of it. They didn't say there could be less. It might be more difficult to get. They weren't saying that love could be more fleeting. They said that love could be more abundant. It could be that way.

Mastroianni thought they had run the statistics the wrong way. Every single time, they got the same result, they ran studies with new wording, studies with Polish people, and studies in mandarin.

The effect in psychology that shows people want to believe that things will work out is one of the reasons for their results. The people who were surveyed didn't think that their imagined improvements to their cars, pets, and bank accounts would happen. They imagined them even though they didn't.

This has to do with the future. We have to imagine what tomorrows will be before we can create better ones. We are doing that all the time. Humans thought about how things could be better. Better imaginings aren't enough. It is a starting point. The ability to know that things are bad is a key aspect of hope.

We cannot allow this instinct to get us. Allowing hope to get in the way of progress can be dangerous. Even though posts like Shepherd's aren't going viral, the spirit that generated them still exists. It has become weaponized into something worse.

We get our dose of positive vibes from this.

There is a video on thevimeo.com.

This is a commercial A bike shop, a pottery studio, a bowling alley, and a food truck are some of the small businesses shown in the film. The swelling voices say that they have hope now that they have a future. There is a white text at the end of the video. This bank is helping us all move into a future full of possibility and opportunity. There is an initiative to invest in small businesses as they emerge from the economic impact of the swine flu. They want you to come with them to Hope USA.