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LAWRENCE -- C. R. "Rick" Snyder, whose 17 years of researching hope have earned him a street title of the "Hope Doctor," will give his inaugural lecture as the M. Erik Wright distinguished professor of clinical psychology at the University of Kansas at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23, in Alderson Auditorium of the Kansas Union.
Snyder will speak on "The Science of Hope."
As a pioneer in the positive-psychology movement, which looks at human strengths instead of weaknesses, Snyder said, "I firmly believe that hope keeps us going as a species. It is the link between what we are and the civilized people we will become."
Snyder said he envisions a world where hope is readily nurtured and where people are more caring of one another. Typically, people with high hope are more caring of others, Snyder said.
"Critics have regarded hope as illusory," Snyder said. "Historically people have had some pretty negative views about hope." He paraphrased, for example, a Francis Bacon metaphor: "Hope makes a good breakfast but not much of a dinner."
Yet since 1994 when Snyder's first book, "The Psychology of Hope: You Can Get There From Here," was published, he has found a steady appetite for his research. Author or editor of 21 books, Snyder has a total of six books focused on hope, several written with colleagues.
At KU, Snyder works with a team of graduate students, a few undergraduates and one or two colleagues who explore hope and the methods of measuring and using hope in treatment.
"There is a science to hope -- it does have substance. It can be researched," Snyder said. "The key to good science is to define and then measure."
Snyder has done both.
He defines hope as "a way of thinking about goals such that we see ourselves as being able to find routes to our goals (called pathways thinking) and to motivate ourselves to use those routes (called agency thinking)."
Furthermore, he has developed scales to measure hope in adults and children. Those scales have been published in 25 languages and are easily accessed on the Web, http://www.ku.edu/~crsnyder/.
Weekly, he receives queries from people interested in his studies, ranging from journalists seeking interviews to heart-rending requests for help. Snyder recalled a high school student a few years ago who was searching for help in writing a commencement speech that would offer hope to a graduating class that had experienced several deaths among its classmates.
"I told him sometimes when we lose hope, we must wait for the good to come back," Snyder said.
People magazine recently consulted him as its editors interviewed people who felt hope flowing from the tragedy of Sept. 11.
To find hope in that tragedy, Snyder said he would emphasize looking at the people's responses. "We saw the worst in the people who perpetrated that tragedy," he said, "and we found the best in the people who were motivated to care for those who were hurt in the collapsing buildings.
"Sometimes the best thing to do after a tragedy is to experience 'the down' and to wait. There will be a valley, and eventually hope can come back.
"After people have experienced a tragedy, I advise that they don't try to push into hoping too fast. There is a reason for having bad feelings. If we experience those bad feelings for a time, we then will be able later to bounce back and to hope."
Research shows that people with health problems can find hope in their coping experiences, Snyder said. "They are able to find benefits, become stronger and respect their resilience."
A few years before his first book on hope was published, Snyder began experiencing chronic chest pain that continues today. As he focused on his work -- teaching classes, conducting research, advising students and writing -- he found that the pain was less noticeable.
"My coping strategy is to stay occupied and active because when I slow down, the pain is more salient," Snyder said. "Working is a way of maintaining my hope."
Snyder earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Vanderbilt University in 1971 and joined KU's faculty in 1972. His classroom skills and his rapport with students have earned him numerous teaching awards including the 1991 H.O.P.E. (Honor for Outstanding Progressive Educator) Award, the only KU teaching honor bestowed entirely by students.
Other recent honors include the 2002 Balfour Jeffrey Award for Research Achievement in Humanities and Social Science; the 2001 Byron T. Shutz Distinguished Teaching Award; the 2001 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; Kansas Professor of the Year Award; the 1992 Louise Byrd Outstanding Graduate Educator Award; and the 2001 Guilford Press Award for Pioneering Scholarly Contributions in Clinical/Social/Personality Psychology.
His most recent books include "Hope for the Journey: Helping Children Through the Good times and the Bad" (revised 2002), written with Diane McDermott, William Cook and Michael Rapoff, and the "Handbook of Positive Psychology" (2002), edited with Shane Lopez. Snyder and Lopez also are working on two more books on positive psychology.
Earlier books include "Schizophrenia: Origins, Processes, Treatment and Outcome" (1993), written with Rue L. Cromwell; "Coping: The Psychology of What Works," (1999) editor; "The Handbook of Hope: Theory, Measurement and Applications" (2001), editor; "Coping with Stress: Effective People and Processes" (2001), editor; "Making Hope Happen" (2000), written with Diane McDermott; and "The Big Book of Hope" (2000), with McDermott. His 1983 book, "Excuses: Masquerades in Search of Grace," written with Raymond L. Higgins and Rita J. Stucky, has been revised and is in press, as is a reprinted version of his 1980 book with Howard Fromkin, "Uniqueness:The Human Pursuit of Difference."
Snyder received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Southern Methodist University in 1967; a master's degree in psychology from Vanderbilt University in 1968; and he was a fellow in medical psychology at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco in 1971.
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