At the intersection of ideas and action, this is Longitude Sound Bytes, where we bring innovative insights from around the world directly to you.

My name is Shvetali Thatte, a Longitude fellow from Case Western Reserve University, and today I will be presenting a sound byte by Michael Milona, an assistant professor of philosophy at Ryerson University. Today, he’ll be talking to us about hope and optimism, the difference between the two, and how they’re important to our lives.

Hi, everyone. My name is Michael Molina. I’m an assistant professor of philosophy at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario. Here, I’d like to talk about hope and optimism. I’ll say a bit about what they are, and how there are important differences between the two.

The major theme in my own research is that it often makes sense to hope even when you can’t be optimistic. It can even make sense to be a pessimistic hoper. Now, questions of hope and optimism tend to arise in difficult circumstances. For example, many of us have had to confront daunting medical diagnoses, either our own or that of a loved one. In my own case, from early in life, I watched a loved one struggle with an ongoing illness. The illness was multiple sclerosis, or MS. And despite the suffering brought by this disease, they always managed to avoid the temptation to despair, and something like hope and/or optimism, sustained them. To offer a more global example, humanity currently faces the rising threat of climate change. The odds of avoiding disaster seem bleaker as time passes. And as some climate activists argue, fear and panic can sometimes seem preferable to hope and optimism. But a crucial point to notice is that hope and optimism aren’t the same thing.

A person who’s optimistic expects things to go well. For example, if you’ve got an upcoming exam, and you predict to make an A on it, even if you’re not absolutely certain, then you’re optimistic. But maybe you don’t expect you’ll make an A. Perhaps you fell asleep before you’re able to finish reviewing all your notes. But you’re a clever student and you think somehow you got an A. You’re not optimistic at this point. But you’re nevertheless still holding on to hope. So hoping for something only requires desiring that thing because you believe it’s at least possible.

Now, the empirical research suggests that being high in optimism has numerous advantages. For example, optimism has benefits for physical health, emotional wellbeing, and relationships. The trouble is that whether one is optimistic can depend heavily on factors over which one has little control. If the odds that things will go well are low, then optimism can be difficult to cultivate or sustained, at least while avoiding irrationality about what the odds really are. By contrast, the possibility of rationally holding on to hope can be present even in the face of incredibly low odds. For example, even if the chances of averting a given disaster are, you know, say 2%, it might make sense to continue hoping. This could be especially true if there are still actions one could perform that make the disaster less likely. So even if some people can continue to move forward without hope, others who give up hope may risk falling into a state of hopelessness or despair. And despair not only feels bad, but it can deflate our motivation to act at all. So if we want to hold on to hope, how might we do that? I’ll close with a handful of tips.

First, be as flexible as you can when you’re hoping. So a highly specific hope to become, say, a Harvard professor is difficult to fulfill, one which is likely to be dashed. But prioritizing a more open ended hope to find a career educating minds can be fulfilled in a number of different ways. It’s easier to sustain.

Second, gain conceptual clarity. Recognize that a hope can coexist with lots of negative feelings.  Hope and fear, for example, tend to go together. When we fear something, we hope that what we’re afraid of doesn’t happen. And when we hope for something, we fear that what we hope for doesn’t happen. Hope is always energizing, but it isn’t always something that is cheerful.

Third, take action, whether that means planning, or doing. Hope itself can cause us to act, but you can also try to fake it until you make it. Small steps can be what kindles a more lasting hope.

Last but not least, look to the past. History is full of unexpected twists and turns, some for the worse, and some for the better. On a positive side, we might point to the fall of the Berlin wall or the Nelson Mandela story. Hope is comfortable in that space of uncertainty. These tips hardly guarantee that you’ll hold on to hope but there are strategies available to those who seek to maintain it perhaps even hoping against hope.

Shvetali Thatte, Longitude fellow, Case Western Reserve University: