Unresolved Tensions in the Study of Meaning in Life

When meaning in life protects against fear of death: The moderating role of self-alienation

OBJECTIVE

A sense of meaning in life (MIL) is thought to help protect people against experiencing explicit anxiety about death. However, the experience of meaning is complex and subjective and may relate to death anxiety in nuanced ways. We examine how self-alienation-a feeling of not knowing/being disconnected from one's self-might moderate the relationship between MIL and death anxiety.

METHOD

Across five studies, we tested the hypothesis that MIL would negatively predict death anxiety more strongly for people relatively low in self-alienation. These studies were similar in design and included exploratory, confirmatory, and pre-registered tests.

RESULTS

A meta-regression across our five studies (N = 2001) provided clear evidence that MIL was most strongly associated with lower death anxiety at low self-alienation. We also observed that MIL was positively associated with death anxiety at high self-alienation. These effects were consistent in direction but inconsistent in strength.

CONCLUSIONS

We interpreted these results as evidence that MIL is existentially protective when experienced in combination with a relatively strong, clear, and connected sense of self. In contrast, MIL may be existentially problematic when people feel relatively unaware and disconnected from themselves. These findings align with aspects of terror management theory and highlight the potentially complex ways that MIL might relate to death anxiety.

Meaning in life through work: A cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST) perspective

This article explores existential meaning-making from work using the cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST). To start with, we use the tenets of CEST to elaborate on how the cues from archetype work environments—a realization facilitating work environment (RfWE) and justification facilitating work environment (JfWE)—are interpreted by information-processing systems to imbue meaning in life (MiL) as internal or external manifestations of coherence, purpose, and significance. Next, we explain how individual differences in work centrality and proactive meaning-crafting ability moderate the impact of JfWE, but not of RfWE, on MiL. Finally, we create a nomological network of existential meaning states emerging from the simultaneous presence or absence of RfWE and JfWE. In summary, by applying the information-processing lens of CEST, we develop an integrated model that explains how work drives MiL, elucidates the resultant existential states, and assesses the role of individual differences in meaning-making.

Plain Language Summary

This article develops an integrated model that outlines how work environments can augur human well-being by fostering a sense of meaning in life (MiL). Based on the cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST), expounding parallel-competitive processing of information through the working of the experiential and rational system, we explore how the cues from archetype work environments—a realization facilitating work environment (RfWE) and justification facilitating work environment (JfWE)—influence the varied flavors of MiL and meaninglessness in life. We build the argument that RfWE activates the functioning of the experiential system to induce a feeling of internal MiL as internal coherence, internal purpose, and internal value significance. At the same time, JfWE triggers the functioning of the rational system to construct a judgment of external MiL as external coherence, external worthy purpose, and external value significance. However, the interaction between RfWE and JfWE can result in intricate scenarios, including favorable states such as holistic meaning, positive existential feelings, and positive existential narratives. Still, it can also lead individuals into meaninglessness in life through existential fatigue, existential cocoon, or existential futility. Nonetheless, individual differences in work centrality and proactive behavior to craft meaning can act as moderators to alter the intensity of work’s impact on MiL in a JfWE but not in an RfWE.

Effects of positive reappraisal and self-distancing on the meaningfulness of everyday negative events

Current work on meaning-making has primarily focused on major negative life events such as trauma and loss, leaving common daily adversities unexplored. This study aimed to examine how utilizing meaning-making strategies such as positive reappraisal and self-distancing (in isolation or in combination) can facilitate an adaptive processing of these daily negative experiences. Overall meaning and facets of meaning (coherence, purpose, and significance/mattering) were assessed at both global and situational levels. Results suggested that positive reappraisal was generally effective for enhancing situational meaning but not under all conditions. Specifically, when negative experiences were high on emotional intensity, reflecting on the experience from a distanced (third-person) perspective enhanced coherence and existential mattering more than engaging in positive reappraisal. However, when negative experiences were low on intensity, distanced reflection led to less coherence and mattering than positive reappraisal. The findings of this study elucidated the importance of examining the multidimensional construct of meaning at the facet level and highlighted the importance of applying different coping strategies to effectively make meaning out of daily negative experiences.

Mental health in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal examination of the ameliorating effect of meaning salience

During the COVID-19 pandemic, various restrictions forced people around the world to socially isolate. People were asked to stay at home and were largely unable to do many of the activities that they derived meaning from. Since meaning is often related to mental health, these restrictions were likely to decrease mental health. The current study aimed to examine these effects and additionally benefit individuals' mental health by making their meaning salient. Specifically, the goal of the research was to design an intervention that could counter the potential negative effects of social distancing. We recruited a total of 96 U.S.A. residents (M _age  = 34.45, 92.7% Female) and assigned them to either the control group or to a meaning salience intervention. That is, participants either focused on the meaning of their daily activities (n = 45) or did not participate in any study-related activities during the week (n = 51). They completed various measures of mental health before and after this experimental period. Results suggested that the control group reported significantly greater anxiety, depression, and stress at the end of the week. In contrast, the experimental group reported less anxiety and trended toward less depression and stress at the end of that same week. In all, results suggest that simply focusing on one's daily activities and the meaning found in them protected people from the otherwise detrimental effects of the restrictions. This provides a promising and simple intervention that may assist both individuals and practitioners aiming to improve mental health, especially in challenging times.

World assumptions and post-traumatic growth among older adults: The case of Holocaust survivors

Traumatic events may lead to post-traumatic growth (PTG). Nevertheless, little is known about the mechanisms leading to PTG, especially among older adults. This study sought to examine the direct relationship between world assumptions and PTG and the indirect relationship between them via two possible mediation pathways: post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and meaning in life. One hundred fifty-nine Holocaust survivors participated in the study (mean age = 82.34, SD = 5.81). Participants completed questionnaires of world assumptions, meaning in life, PTSS and PTG. The findings showed that world assumptions were positive and were positively associated with meaning in life and PTG and negatively associated with PTSS. The results of the multiple mediation model suggest that meaning in life and PTSS partially mediated the relations between world assumptions and PTG. Positive world assumptions were associated with higher meaning in life, which was associated with higher PTG. In contrast, despite the direct association between PTSS and PTG, the mediating effect of PTSS was negative, thus the more positive the world assumptions, the higher the PTG mediated by lower PTSS. The results suggest that the relationship between world assumptions and PTG may be direct and indirect. These findings suggest possible mechanisms underlying PTG, especially in old age.

Grief in a biography of losses: Meaning-making in hard drug users' grief narratives on drug-related death

The focus in grief theories has been increasingly shifting toward questions of meaning. In this study, we draw on the meaning-reconstruction model of grief for studying the unique case of hard drug users who have experienced a drug-related death. The social context of hard drug use, as well as the death and grief circumstances, is problematic and stigmatized. Grief narratives of 10 respondents were analyzed according to the principles of grounded theory. We identified four main themes: (1) the inhibition of emotion by drugs leading to fragmented grief reactions, (2) social exclusion and notions of disenfranchized grief, (3) the acceptance of death, and (4) meaningfulness in a "biography of losses." Connecting these results with the literature on meaning, we find that meaning-making is a multidimensional and layered process, where some layers result in meanings made while others do not. Finally, this study emphasizes the importance of social and emotional aspects of grieving, as well as the ambiguity of the notion of successful meaning-making in relation to grief.