Two faces of hope: When wishing matters more than expecting in climate action

Hope is often described as a key motivator of public engagement with climate change, yet empirical findings on hope's relationship to climate action are mixed. Building on the bidimensional model of hope, we distinguish between wish, the desire and urgency for change, and expectation, the perceived likelihood that change will occur. Across three studies in the United States and Israel (total N = 1108), we examined how these two dimensions correlate with pro-environmental outcomes: reported climate-related behavior and support for environmental policy. In all studies, wish emerged as the stronger and more consistent predictor of both pro-environmental outcomes, even after controlling for climate beliefs, norms, self-efficacy and socio-demographics. In contrast, expectation showed weaker effects or none at all for both outcomes. A mini meta-analysis across the three studies confirmed the robustness of these patterns. Overall, the results indicate that the motivational desire for change, i.e. the wish component of hope, is more strongly associated with climate engagement than beliefs about the likelihood of change (i.e. expectation).