Existential Benefits Research Articles

Social Withdrawal, Solitude, and Existential Concerns in Emerging Adulthood

This study aimed to investigate the ways subtypes of social withdrawal and dimensions of solitude are related to existential concerns in emerging adulthood. The links between social withdrawal/solitude and existential well-being are a highly neglected research issue. Participants were 774 emerging adults (50.4% males) aged 18–25 ( M = 20.07) from Greece. They completed measures on social withdrawal, solitude, authenticity, meaning in life, existential anxiety, and existential loneliness. We used structural equation modeling to analyze the data. Results indicated that shyness, avoidance, and isolation were associated with more existential concerns, whereas unsociability was associated with less existential concerns. The solitude dimensions—enlightenment, freedom, intimacy, and loneliness—were differentially associated with existential concerns, with enlightenment exhibiting the most existential benefits. Findings showed that existential well-being is dependent on emerging adults’ quality of withdrawal experiences and ability to make constructive use of solitude.

In the valley of the shadow of death: The existential benefits of imbuing life and death with meaning.

In the valley of the shadow of death: The existential benefits of imbuing life and death with meaning.

A Distant Ally?: Mortality Salience and Parasocial Attachment.

Research in Terror Management Theory finds that close interpersonal relationships (e.g., parents, romantic partners) mitigate threat reactions to reminders of mortality. Parasocial relationships (imagined relationships with media personalities) afford many of the same benefits as interpersonal relationships. Do these benefits extend to mortality concerns? We investigated whether those with strong parasocial attachments were differentially influenced by reminders of death. Results showed that those with strong parasocial relationships had more defensive reactions to a mortality prime, suggesting that such attachments may not afford the same existential benefits given by close human others and may instead indicate a heightened vulnerability.

Samesame but different: New Zealand’s queer literary festival

ABSTRACT ‘I was always a very timid boy. This was after I was bullied at Mt Albert Grammar. But I have to thank the bullies because I became a writer, which enabled me to say on paper what I couldn’t say out loud’. The late Peter Wells, instigator of New Zealand’s samesame but different literary festival, wrote about the existential benefits of being a writer in the festival’s inaugural programme in 2016. The festival has run every year since then. This article draws from festival programmes and interviews with key organisers in order to explore the emancipatory potentials of samesame but different in particular and literary festivals in general. Their value lies in showcasing cultural and literary diversity, affording space for discussion and debate, and fostering new talent alongside more established writers. As such, literary festivals have an important role to play in queer community building and LGBTIQ+ politics.

Human Extinction and Moral Worthwhileness

AbstractIn this article I make two main critiques of Kaczmarek and Beard's article ‘Human Extinction and Our Obligations to the Past’. First, I argue that there is an ambiguity in what it means to realise the benefits of a sacrifice and that this ambiguity affects the persuasiveness of the authors’ arguments and responses to various objections to their view. Second, I argue that their core argument against human extinction depends on an unsupported assumption about the existence and importance of existential benefits.

Older adults’ philanthropic crafting of face masks during COVID-19

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, people of all ages began sewing fabric face masks. Organized through separate grassroots movements, oftentimes using social media platforms, people pooled their resources to make masks for front line workers and others in desperate need. While some people sold these face masks, many participated in philanthropic crafting, donating them to hospitals and other health care centres. Older adults were identified early on as being particularly vulnerable to the effects of the virus, and so their response to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic through crafting was salient. This study investigated the experience of philanthropic hand crafting by older adults who were living through the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty-seven older adults of age 60–87 who sewed masks for others were interviewed. A comprehensive data analysis of these interviews yielded 39 descriptive codes that were collapsed into eight themes: emotions, engagement, meaning, relationships, accomplishment, intellect, moral values and agency. One finding was that there were psychological, relational and existential benefits for the crafters. Making masks allowed participants to help other people, and it gave the participants a feeling of value, worthiness and purpose. Additionally, participants felt more in control in a chaotic world as they made masks to protect themselves, their loved ones, as well as strangers. The philanthropic crafting enhanced older adults’ well-being in many ways, and lessons learned from this study could be extended into ‘normal times’. For example, more older adults would be able to participate in craft-based philanthropy if they had access to the tools and materials. They would be more motivated if they received thank you notes and pictures of the recipients using their handmade gifts, and if they could express their creativity more. Finally, creating a physical or virtual community for older adults around craft philanthropy would help older adults feel more connected to and supported by their peers, and the community at large.

From blue to green water and back again: Promoting tree, shrub and forest-based landscape resilience in the Sahel

Enjoying the potential climate benefits of restoration requires linking key forest-water and land-atmosphere interactions to the existential benefits provided on the ground. We apply what we call the "forest-water and land-atmosphere interaction lens" to current strategies for improving landscape resilience in the West African Sahel and the concept of the Great Green Wall (GGW). The severe and extensive drought of the 1970's–1990's led many to assess future climate and promote strategies to counter the gradual southward expansion of the Sahara. The idea for the GGW, a wall of trees intended to slow desert encroachment, grew out of this period of tremendous upheaval and human tragedy. Despite partial recovery in the local rainfall regime, we know far too little about whether the GGW strategy can even work. Further, it seems disingenuous to ignore the climatic envelope, which sets the boundaries within which forest-water and land-atmosphere interactions occur. Applying the “forest-water and land-atmosphere interaction lens” to landscape restoration as a tool for achieving improved resilience and human welfare in the Sahel provides meaningful input for re-thinking the GGW strategy. We upgrade current knowledge with the specific biophysical conditions likely to better support appropriate forest-water and land atmosphere interactions in the region and further fit such approaches within the context of the climatic envelope. The principal components of an improved strategy include a focus on large scale precipitation recycling all the way from the West African coast on into the Sahel, as well as improved tree, shrub and forest cover in the Sahel proper to promote infiltration, groundwater recharge, rainfall triggering potential and land surface cooling. Agroforestry can further broadly promote landscape resilience in the greater region. Strategies broadly focused on increasing rainfall recycling, water availability and the promotion of landscape resilience appear more likely to steer future efforts in useful directions.

Refurbishing services and how services enhance consumer well-being

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how services might impact a general consumer sense of everyday well-being or life satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachIt was decided to focus on the existential benefits of refurbishing services and see how they might impact owner sense of self and overall life satisfaction. A qualitative study was fielded which consisted of analyses of website testimonials of customers of refurbishing services for products such as pianos, watches, boats, bicycles and other durables. Also analyzed were results from one-on-one qualitative interviews of customers of refurbishing services and selected refurbishers of similar products.FindingsThe study suggests that refurbish services provide a mix of hedonic and eudaimonic benefits. They provide an enhanced sense of self and general well-being insofar, as the newly restored item connects owners to loved ones, to other collectors or fans and to their own personal life histories. It also connects them to the refurbishers and their “magic”. Insofar as refurbishers invite customer involvement in the process, they co-create how the process will proceed, so customers feel a special involvement and gain an understanding of the workings of the item and how to best use it.Practical implicationsRefurbishing services might offer, like all the new internet-mediated sharing services, a more sustainable alternative to the buy-and-dispose consumption behaviors found in most world economies.Originality valueThis paper provides insights into the lives of products after purchase and the roles of relevant service providers. It also provides examples of how service providers in general might deepen and facilitate customers’ feelings about themselves and their daily lives. It shows how service providers can enhance customer hedonic and eudaimonic appreciation of provider knowledge, skills and efforts.

Further Exploring the Link Between Religion and Existential Health: The Effects of Religiosity and Trait Differences in Mentalizing on Indicators of Meaning in Life.

Religiosity contributes to perceptions of meaning. One of the cognitive foundations for religious belief is the capacity to mentalize the thoughts, emotions, and intentions of others (Theory of Mind). We examined how religiosity and trait differences in mentalizing interact to influence meaning. We hypothesized that people who are most cognitively inclined toward religion (high mentalizers) receive the greatest existential benefits (i.e., high and secure meaning) from religiosity. We assessed individual differences in mentalizing and religiosity, and measured indicators of meaning. Results confirmed that the combination of high mentalizing and high religiosity corresponded to the highest levels of existential health.

We are made, not born: Empiricism is existentially useful

The perennial “nativist-empiricist” debate in developmental science has far-reaching relevance in our existence. Two studies conducted under the terror management framework tested whether the empiricist developmental conception serves distal defensive purposes. Experiment 1 highlights the palliative existential effect of the empiricist conception since participants who read an empiricist essay exhibited less death thoughts than participants who read a nativist essay or a control essay. Experiment 2 gives support to the distal defensive function of the empiricist conception by showing that, unlike with the nativist or the control essay, people under mortality salience exhibited a higher need to rely on empiricism than participants in the control pain condition. The existential advantage of empiricism is explained by the fact that human development is shaped by a meaningful cultural blueprint. Our results are discussed in terms of the ontological and existential benefits of contemplating human intrinsic identity, ranging from its biology to its social behaviors as primarily influenced by the cultural environment.

ANALISIS PERSEPSI DAN MOTIVASI PETANI TERHADAP MANFAAT SUMBERDAYA HUTAN LINDUNG PULAU TARAKAN

The research aims is to find the main causes of disharmony between behaviorof users community and the management objectives of Protection Forest Resourceof Tarakan Island that reviewed based on the perceptions and motivations. Based onthe research results: First, the level of perception of the users farmer of ProtectionForest Resource of Tarakan Island in the direct use included in the medium category,but for the functional benefits and the optional benefits included in the low category.While, the level perception of the existential benefits included in medium categoryand other benefits include high category. Second, the level of economic andenvironmental motivations of users farmer in utilization of Protection Forest Resourceof Tarakan Island is low, but the level of social motivation toward Protection ForestResource of Tarakan Island is high. Third, the low level of users’ farmer perception offunctional and optional benefits, low levels of economic and environment motivation,and the high social motivation of the users’ farmer in utilization Protection ForestResource of Tarakan Island become the main causes of disharmony betweenbehavior of users farmer and the management objectives of Protection ForestResource of Tarakan Island.

Theories of Self and Cognition

In this article, select theories of self and cognition from the Indian tradition are examined and interpreted in light of contemporary psychology. The affirmation and denial of the self in respectively the Upaniṣadic and Buddhist traditions of India are explained and are critically compared with their counterparts in the works of Erik Erikson and B.F. Skinner. It is argued that, to properly understand the differing theories, it is necessary to carefully examine what is it that they affirm or deny in the name of self, on what grounds, and to what consequences. A theory of cognition from the Advaita school of Indian thought is outlined and explained to indicate how it enriches the view of transcendental self in the Upaniṣadic tradition. This theory is shown to be constructivist in a way similar to Piaget’s theory. A meditative technique based on the Advaita theory of cognition is briefly described, and it is pointed out how its successful practice leads to a deconstruction of the ego and also to important existential benefits. It is shown how the technique also provides a means to validate the theory. A brief account of a modern sage who successfully followed the Advaita approach to self-realisation is given by way of a case study to illustrate how it plays out in real life. The article is concluded with a discussion on Indian and Western psychologies and implications for future research.

System Justification and the Meaning of Life: Are the Existential Benefits of Ideology Distributed Unequally Across Racial Groups?

In this research, we investigated the relations among system justification, religiosity, and subjective well-being in a sample of nationally representative low-income respondents in the United States. We hypothesized that ideological endorsement of the status quo would be associated with certain existential and other psychological benefits, but these would not necessarily be evenly distributed across racial groups. Results revealed that religiosity was positively associated with subjective well-being in general, but the relationship between system justification and well-being varied considerably as a function of racial group membership. For low-income European Americans, stronger endorsement of system justification as an ideology was associated with increased positive affect, decreased negative affect, and a wide range of existential benefits, including life satisfaction and a subjective sense of security, meaning, and mastery. These findings are consistent with the notion that system justification satisfies psychological needs for personal control and serves a palliative function for its adherents. However, many of these effects were considerably weakened or even reversed for African American respondents. Thus, the psychological benefits associated with religiosity existed for both racial groups, whereas the benefits of system justification were distributed unequally across racial groups.

Participant Objectivation*

Scientific reflexivity stands opposed to the narcissistic reflexivity of postmodern anthropology as well as to the egological reflexivity of phenomenology in that it endeavours to increase scientificity by turning the most objectivist tools of social science not only onto the private person of the enquirer but also, and more decisively, onto the anthropological field itself and onto the scholastic dispositions and biases it fosters and rewards in its members. ‘Participant objectivation’, as the objectivation of the subject and operations of objectivation, and of the latter's conditions of possibility, produces real cognitive effects as it enables the social analyst to grasp and master the pre‐reflexive social and academic experiences of the social world that he tends to project unconsciously onto ordinary social agents. This does not mean that anthropologists must put nothing of themselves into their work, quite the contrary. Examples drawn from the author's own research (with special focus on field enquiries carried out concurrently in the far‐away colony of Kabylia and in his home village in Béarn) show how idiosyncratic personal experiences methodically subjected to sociological control constitute irreplaceable analytic resources, and that mobilizing one's social past through self‐socio‐analysis can and does produce epistemic as well as existential benefits.

Psychotherapy by Reciprocal Inhibition: Joseph Wolpe.

I first came across this particular book during my training at Boston City Hospital in 1970. It was by that time 12 years old. Skinnerian operant conditioning was the rage in the psychological and psychiatric circles; reciprocal inhibition seemed at the time to be considered passe. The psychoanalysts had already discounted any suggestion that the only effect of insight-oriented therapy was to provide a therapeutic setting in which reciprocal inhibition took place. Behaviour therapists were busy working out complex positive and negative reinforcement schedules for illnesses as diverse as schizophrenia and alcoholism. Dr Laing put in an appearance in Boston at that particular time, extolling the virtues of the existential benefits of madness. But, I imagine that in its day, this book was highly controversial, since it challenges the central premise of psychoanalysis-that the essence of psychotherapy is uncovering and expression of the repressed.

Individual outpatient treatment of pathological gambling

Recovery from pathological gambling is viewed as a process whereby the pathological gambler chooses to lose an addiction to gambling and maintains that choice while mourning the loss of the gambling. The self-induced and self-escalating addictive crisis leading up to that choice is explored, as is the crisis caused by the loss of the gambling itself. It is proposed that gambling provides the gambler with action, a method of dealing with stress aand avoiding unpleasant affect, and a variety of social, psychological, and existential benefits. The loss of gambling is seen as a complicated and significant one which elicits grief responses similar to those seen in response to other types of major loss. It is proposed that in the individual outpatient treatment of pathological gamblers, the therapist helps the recovering gambler to accept the loss of the gambling and learn to live a rewarding life without it. Four phases of treatment are suggested which correspond to stages of grieving and accepting the loss of the gambling.