Hi there

I suggest you take a look at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jose-Miguel_Fernandez-Dols

Best, Clara Molina

You might want to have a look at Bhutan's Global National Happiness Index....

Hope is caused by our expectations that something good can happen - when we see a chance or option for good/rewarding (joyful, liked) outcome. (i.e. chance to meet someone you like)

Hope is linked to the activation in motivational D1 loop of ventral striatum. If output of this D1 loop is suppressed by lack of dopamine in brain, or by too strong output of D2 loop of ventral striatum, the hope, drive and motivation to move, go and act for your goals is inhibited.

https://www.scienceopen.com/document/id/fa624a2b-ec57-450c-bbc1-1ac3f9bb01e7;jsessionid=bZvqXgtCEuSW6gGyMleTz8KZ.master:so-app1-prd?0

Check out Snyder's Hope scale

Hi Jacqueline, I suggest you take a look at 

http://emotionalcartography.net/ and 

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/2/646.full.pdf+html.

Best, Patricia

Hello, please have a look at the work of the authors below; they operationalize hope as an emotion and link it to behaviors aimed at conflict resolution.

Hope(lessness) and collective (in)action in intractable intergroup conflict

Smadar Cohen-Chen, Martijn van Zomeren & Eran Halperin

In book: The Social Psychology of Intractable Conflicts - Celebrating the Legacy of Daniel Bar-Tal., Publisher: New York, NY: Springer Publishing, Editors: Eran Halperin, Keren Sharvit

ABSTRACT Intractable intergroup conflict is an extremely severe, violent and protracted form of intergroup conflict (Bar-Tal, 2013; Coleman, 2003; Kriesberg, 1993). Such conflicts include a number of unique characteristics that set them apart from other types of intergroup conflicts. One of these characteristics is the perception of irresolvability, which is closely associated with the feeling and development of hopelessness. According to the seminal work of Daniel Bar-Tal (1990, 2007, 2013), the lack of hope and the belief that the conflict cannot be resolved becomes, over time, an inherent part of the so-called Ethos of Conflict and thus helps to perpetuate intractable conflict by inducing indifference and inaction. Hope, on the other hand, has been suggested as an important emotion within conflict resolution (Bar-Tal, 2001; Jarymowicz & Bar-Tal, 2006) because it induces constructive and goal-directed behaviour (Stotland, 1969). We suggest in this chapter that one such behavioural manifestation of hope may be action to achieve social change, or in this context, collective action to achieve conflict resolution (which is a specific form of social change).

I use in depth qualitative research to capture 'intangible' goods. Hope, or its lack, for example, can be captured by questions on how people see their future, on their attitudes to society, on changes they would like to see which could improve their lives or that of their communities, but also  more generally, through asking people to recount stories of their everyday lives and experiences.  

See Vicky Cattell (2012) Poverty Community and Health, Palgrave Macmillan)

You have some interesting works with hope as a dimension of  psychological capital, but here, instead of an emotion, hope is conceptualized as a positive motivational state comprising positive feelings of agency and pathways to achieve the goals in question. You have a psychological capital scale (PsyCap) with good reliability.

see the following publication ...it's all about hope... its references would guide you further:

MacInnis, D. J., & De Mello, G. E. (2005). The concept of hope and its relevance to product evaluation and choice. Journal of Marketing, 69(1), 1-14.

I don't know about 'capturing' exactly but I use filmmaking as a research methodology to explore intangible goods... it attempts to connect the emotions of the participants with the emotions contained/manipulated throught the process of editing and then watching films. Will have an article in Area that discusses the project early 2015 and have more details on my academia.edu page as only just joined ResearchGate.

And I also think most of the research will be found in advertising - but here the purpose is always to persuade.

As remember Paez, de Rivera et al -  have measured hope as a group-level phenomenon.

talk to the subject(s)

Hope is a very complex concept. One person's hope is another's hopelessness even when both are experiencing the same conditions. And you can be hopeful today  and hopeless tomorrow depending on your circumstances and character. Thanks for the reference Ritesh. 

look up the extensive publications on  Expressed  Emotion, including papers by Brown, G. and Rutter M,  Leff J and Vaughn, C.

Thank you Julian. Hope to receive your article.

Thanks a lot to each of you for your contributions!

ODE TO RETIREMENT

She's seventy two

She has no clue

What to do

She had had no idea

It could happen to her

Shall she sleep

Or shall she sweep

 Is she crazy

She's very lazy

She reads and reads

 And plants some seeds

She'll make a plan

If she can

She can't afford to pay her tax

And so decides to just relax

Can she cope

Without some hope