Perceived Meaning In Life Research Articles

An existential function of evil: The effects of religiosity and compromised meaning on belief in magical evil forces

In three studies, we tested the assertion that the need for meaning motivates belief in magical evil forces. Believing that there are magical evil forces at work in the world, though unpleasant, may contribute to perceptions of meaning in life as the existence of such forces supports a broader meaning-providing religious worldview. We assessed religiosity, measured (Study 1) or manipulated (Study 2) perceptions of meaning, and assessed the extent to which participants attributed a murderer’s actions to magical evil causes (e.g., having a dark soul). Low levels of perceived meaning or experimentally threatened meaning were associated with a greater tendency to make magical evil attributions, but only among individuals reporting high levels of religiosity. In Study 3, we assessed religiosity, experimentally threatened perceptions of meaning, and measured general belief in magical evil forces. Meaning threat increased belief in magical evil, but only among those reporting high levels of religiosity.

Using Humanistic and Positive Psychology to Understand Mexican American Adolescents' Subjective Happiness

Mexican American adolescents (N = 131) provided perceptions of presence of meaning in life, search for meaning in life, hope, family importance, and subjective happiness. Perceptions of meaning in life and family importance were significant predictors of subjective happiness. A discussion regarding the importance of these findings and implications for counselors are provided.

The Effectiveness of a Meaning-Centered Psychoeducational Group Intervention for Chinese College Students

Using a sample of 66 Chinese college students, we measured the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of a meaning-centered psychoeducational group intervention in increasing the level of their psychological well-being. The students were assigned to either a control or an intervention group, and those in the intervention group attended 9 weekly meaning-centered psychoeducational sessions. All participants completed baseline, posttest, and 3-month follow-up tests to compare the level of psychological well-being of the intervention and control groups. With the exception of the life enjoyment dimension in the Chinese Sources of Meaning in Life Scale (CSMLS), the scores of the intervention group differed significantly from the control group between the baseline and the posttest, and for the subscales of depression and sense of adequacy (General Health Questionnaire), search for meaning (Meaning in Life Questionnaire), and the dimensions of social concern, personal growth, and harmonious relationships (CSMLS), the scores at the follow-up test time indicated the effectiveness of the group intervention. These findings highlight the effectiveness of a meaning-centered group intervention in improving college students' psychological well-being and positive perception of meaning in life.

Finding meaning through emotional understanding: emotional clarity predicts meaning in life and adjustment to existential threat

If emotions provide information relevant to personal meaning, then people with a greater sense of clarity about their emotions may possess some advantages in finding meaning in their lives. Consistent with this, in Studies 1, 2, and 3 we found that individuals high in trait emotional clarity have greater meaning in life. However, meaning is often undermined by existential threats. In two subsequent studies we measured (Study 4) or manipulated (Study 5) existentially threatening thoughts, and then measured meaning in life. Results showed that elevated death thoughts were associated with deficits in meaning for individuals with low, but not high, in trait emotional clarity. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that the extent to which one clearly understands their emotions contributes to perceptions of meaning in life and the maintenance of meaning in the context of existential threat.

Humanistic and Positive Psychology Factors as Predictors of Mexican American Adolescents’ Vocational Outcome Expectations

One-hundred thirty-one Mexican American adolescents provided perceptions of presence of meaning in life, search for meaning in life, hope, family importance, subjective happiness, and vocational outcome expectations. Perceptions of meaning in life and family importance were significant predictors of vocational outcome expectations. A discussion regarding the importance of these findings is provided, and implications for counselors are presented.

Understanding Latina/o Students’ Meaning in Life, Spirituality, and Subjective Happiness

One-hundred nineteen Latina/o college students provided perceptions of presence of meaning in life, search for meaning in life, daily spiritual experiences, and subjective happiness. Perceptions of meaning in life and daily spiritual experiences were significant predictors of subjective happiness. A discussion regarding the importance of these findings is provided, and implications for university staff are offered.

Finding Meaning in Life: The Interactive Effect of Viewing Work as a Calling and Economic Need

For nearly a century scholars and practitioners alike have been concerned with identifying the factors that predict meaning in life. Our paper contributes to these ongoing efforts by demonstrating the role that work plays in perceptions of meaning in life. Using cosmetologists as our sample, we identify three attributes of work – beautifying clients, exhibiting artistry, and serving as a lay counselor – that help cosmetologists find greater meaning in life, and further demonstrate that this relationship is mediated by perceptions of calling. Lastly, we highlight the important role that economic need plays in shifting the sources of one’s meaning in life away from work and possibly toward some other domain. Implications and future directions are discussed.

When death thoughts lead to death fears: Mortality salience increases death anxiety for individuals who lack meaning in life

Research derived from terror management theory demonstrates that subtle reminders of mortality increase strivings for meaning. It is argued that such strivings reflect efforts to prevent the anxiety that death reminders may otherwise cause. However, no research has directly tested the assertions that subtle mortality primes increase death anxiety and perceptions of meaning in life moderate this effect. The current study examined these predictions. Meaning in life was measured, death cognition primed, and death anxiety assessed. A mortality prime increased death anxiety, but only for individuals who lack perceptions of meaning in life. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.

Beyond survival: tracing individual empowerment processes in a poor chilean settlement

AbstractBased on the life histories of residents from La Victoria, a poor settlement in Santiago, Chile, this study reconstructed the central biographic elements in individual empowerment processes, linking them with the sociocultural context in which they occurred. Results show the following main characteristics related to individual empowerment: identification with struggle, coping with poverty, a positive attitude towards learning throughout life, a perception of meaning in life, the search for intimacy, and the desire to help others. The most empowering contextual elements found are the family models regarding work and the context that the La Victoria settlement offers its inhabitants as a protective space in which a sense of community and participation can develop. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Thine own self: true self-concept accessibility and meaning in life.

A number of philosophical and psychological theories suggest the true self is an important contributor to well-being. The present research examined whether the cognitive accessibility of the true self-concept would predict the experience of meaning in life. To ensure that any observed effects were due to the true self-concept rather than to the self-concept more generally, the authors used actual self-concept accessibility as a control variable in all studies. True and actual self-concepts were defined as including those traits that are enacted around close others vs. most others (Studies 1 through 3) or as traits that refer to "who you really are" vs. "who you are during most of your activities" (Studies 4 and 5), respectively. Studies 1, 2, and 4 showed that individual differences in true self-concept accessibility, but not differences in actual self-concept accessibility, predicted meaning in life. Studies 3 and 5 showed that priming traits related to the true self-concept enhanced perceptions of meaning in life. Implications for the study of the true self-concept and authenticity are discussed.

The dynamics of death and meaning: The effects of death-relevant cognitions and personal need for structure on perceptions of meaning in life.

Do reminders of mortality increase or decrease perceptions of life's meaning? The authors propose that death-relevant thought has divergent effects on meaning perceptions depending on individuals' personal need for structure (PNS) or dispositional desire for structured knowledge. In prior research, high-PNS individuals primed with mortality-related stimuli were found to employ clearly structured conceptions of reality. Consequently, these individuals were expected to show stable or even bolstered perceptions of meaning when death thought was heightened. Low-PNS individuals did not show this tendency and were therefore expected to show decreased meaning under heightened death-thought activation. The results of Studies 1a-1d supported these hypotheses. Studies 2 and 3 sought to identify how low-PNS individuals might reaffirm meaning and found that death thought increased their willingness to explore novelty. Studies 4 and 5 directly tested the meaning-conferring function of novelty seeking among low-PNS individuals, showing that the consideration of novel interpretations of the world and their experiences affirmed a sense of meaning in life following reminders of death. Discussion focuses on the relationship between meaning and death and the unique ways low-PNS individuals respond to mortality concerns.

Assessment of Existential Meaning and its Longitudinal Relations with Depressive Symptoms

The perception of meaning in life, or existential meaning, is an individual differences variable requiring improved construct specification and longitudinal analysis. The authors conceptualize of existential meaning as consisting of personal, spiritual, and implicit sub–constructs, respectively, experiencing one's life as having purpose and coherence, experiencing a transcendent presence in which one participates, and manifesting normatively valued attitudes/behavior. Latent cross–lagged panel analysis modeling meaning's longitudinal relations with depressive symptoms in a sample of 395 undergraduates indicated that baseline levels of meaning predicted changes in depressive symptoms over a two–month duration. Additionally, women were found to score higher than men on two of three measures of meaning. Study results have ramifications for how we conceive of and measure existential meaning, as well as how we conceptualize and address psychological distress. The authors conclude with a discussion of social fa...