Three core components of existential hope: existential trust, meaning, and agency¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 3 claims (1 for, 2 mixed) · 1 study (1 theoretical), q1 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article delineates three interrelated components of existential hope: "existential trust, meaning, and agency." Existential trust is a transcendent stance affirming a worthwhile future under uncertainty; meaning is the cognitive capacity to interpret and organize experience toward significance; agency is the capacity to act meaningfully even when outcomes are unknowable. The components are hierarchically related: trust precedes meaning-making, meaning bridges trust and agency, and agency reinforces the other two; no single dimension alone is sufficient.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• All three components must be present together, since the article states no single dimension alone is sufficient to constitute existential hope

Constraints¶

• The components are grounded in philosophical, theological, and psychological scholarship and are proposed as operationalizable, but no measure yet exists in this article

Target Learners¶

• Adults confronting radical uncertainty or existential threat

Target Learning Objectives¶

• Sustaining orientation toward value, meaning-making, and committed action under uncertainty

Claims¶

• Fear of hope: an acquired aversion to feeling hopeful due to anticipated disappointment may block hopeful engagement [~W]
• Existing cognitive hope theories presuppose predictability and control, an assumption that breaks down under radical uncertainty [+W]
• Naive hope is negatively related to civic engagement, while existential hope is proposed to be positively associated with it [~W]

Related Theories¶

• Four adaptive processes transform radical uncertainty and existential threat into existential hope
• Existential hope framework: a psychological stance grounded in existential trust, meaning, and agency under radical uncertainty

Examples¶

• Research agenda: develop an existential hope scale, then test the framework with SEM and network analysis in longitudinal designs

Key Sources¶

• Bohlmeijer, E., Nieuwenhuis, M., Dominguez, A. R., Klooster, P. ten, and Malboeuf-Hurtubise, C. (2026). Toward an integrative psychological framework of existential hope: navigating uncertain futures. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1850611