The first component of hope, pathways thinking, reflects the perceived capacity to generate cognitive routes to one’s goals. People engage in pathways thinking when they plan ways to reach their objectives. It is important to stress, however, that the subjective experience of hope is not necessarily dependent upon individuals actually having charted concrete pathways to goals, but upon a perception or belief that pathways could be produced if desired (Snyder et al. 1999).
The second component of hope, agency thinking, is defined as ‘‘the thoughts that people have regarding their ability to begin and continue movement on selected pathways toward those goals’’ (Snyder et al. 1999, p. 180). Such agentic cognition motivates and sustains individuals in their pursuit of goals. The combination of agency and pathways thinking is theorized to lead individuals to actively pursue their goals (Snyder 1994).