Conditional goal-setting, personal goals and hopelessness about the future

Abstract

Those high in hopelessness retain personal goals but believe that those goals are relatively unlikely to come about. The present study attempted to understand why people remain in this state of painful engagement rather than detaching from unattainable goals. Within a sample of volunteers from a depression self-help organisation levels of hopelessness, as expected, were unrelated to number of goals people were able to think of but were related to a lack of belief in the likelihood of those goals being achieved. Those higher in hopelessness also showed conditional goal setting—they believed more strongly that they would only be able to be happy, fulfilled and have a sense of self-worth if those particular goals were achieved, which was related to hopelessness rather than depression or anxiety. Conditional goal setting helps to explain why people remain engaged with goals they perceive as unattainable and suggests opportunities for interventions for hopelessness.

Keywords:

• Goals
• Hopelessness
• Depression
• Anxiety