Broadening the Structure of Meaning in Life: Experiential Appreciation as an Indicator of Existential Meaning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Flanagan ◽  
Rebecca Jean Schlegel ◽  
Zhanhong Lee ◽  
Colin Shanahan ◽  
Jinhyung Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Daily Diary ◽  
Global Evaluation ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Daily Diary Methodology

There is a growing consensus that perceptions of coherence, purpose, and mattering represent primary indicators of the subjective experience of meaning in life (MIL; Costin & Vignoles, 2019). While these variables are supported by recent empirical research, it is unclear whether they encompass all information people consider when judging the meaningfulness of their lives. Based on the ideas of classic (Frankl, 1986) and contemporary (Martella & Steger, 2016) meaning in life scholars, the current research examines whether valuing one’s life experiences, or experiential appreciation (EA), constitutes another unique indicator of MIL. Study 1 provided support for this idea showing that a theorized hub of meaning, generativity, was uniquely associated with purpose, mattering, and EA. Studies 2-4 used cross sectional and daily diary methodology to directly support the claim that EA predicted global evaluation of MIL above and beyond the contribution of coherence, purpose, mattering. Finally, Studies 5 & 6 experimentally influenced EA by exposing participants stimuli high in intrinsic value (awe inspiring videos), and showed that the EA manipulation indirectly influenced MIL. Importantly, in both studies, these indirect effects were not found though other indicators of MIL. Overall, these findings support Frankl’s argument that valuing one’s experiences is uniquely tied to perceptions of meaning. Implications for the incorporation of EA as a primary indicator of MIL are discussed. This manuscript has not yet been published

Meaning of happiness: A qualitative inquiry among adolescents

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naina Kapoor ◽  
Shifa Rahman ◽  
Tejinder Kaur
Keyword(s):  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Theory Analysis ◽  
Academic World ◽  
Adolescent Students ◽  
Professional Goals ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
To Come

Research on happiness seems to be blooming in current academics. Psychology's engagement with psychopathology left no space for this concept to come to the fore. With rapid changes in the academic world, together with the shift in the focus towards more positive concepts has resulted in a renewed interest in the concept of happiness. The domain of qualitative research seeks to explore the diverse human experiences and the present study uses this domain to understand the subjective meaning of happiness in adolescent students. Using a qualitative approach, twenty adolescents were asked to share their life experiences using a semi structured interview schedule. A grounded theory analysis revealed that happiness forms a core concern for an individual where it depends not only on the cultural norm involving an individual where social relationships form an important part, but also goals and aims (s) he/she wishes to achieve in life. It exists in temporality but is impacted by the larger dimension of meaning in life which is relatively stable and covers a huge expanse of an individual's existence. Finding happiness in life involves both personal goals such as self growth and attainment of peace, and also professional goals like fulfilment of one's academic aim. Happiness is also seen as being impacted by an individual's past happenings, belief in selfworth and social responsibility. Analysis of the findings thus points to the fact that meaning of happiness varies across individuals, however, the essence remains the same for a given culture. The consideration of the emic approach not only creates sound knowledge, but also leads to a holistic understanding of human affairs.

Positive orientation: Exploring the factors that constitute the bright side of personality

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 1613-1618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malgorzata Sobol-Kwapinska
Keyword(s):  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Positive Orientation ◽  
Psychological Variables ◽  
Bright Side

Positive orientation is a general tendency to react to life experiences in a positive way. My aim in this article was to characterize the nature of positive orientation in the context of similar psychological variables. The importance of taking into account the sense of meaning in life as an additional positive orientation variable has been highlighted, suggesting that the value in the concept of positive orientation lies in its focus on a general tendency to perceive life in a positive way. The choice of the factors that constitute positive orientation may raise objections, but it may also encourage reflection and discussion.

Animals in Dreams of Children, Adolescents, and Adults: The UK Library Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 027623662096063
Author(s):  
Michael Schredl ◽  
Mark Blagrove
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
Continuity Hypothesis ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Adolescents And Adults ◽  
The Uk

Animal dreams have fascinated mankind for ages. Empirical research indicated that children dream more often about animals than adults and dogs, cats, and horses are the most frequent animals that appear within dreams. Moreover, most dreamer-animal interactions are negative. The present study included 4849 participants (6 to 90 yrs. old) reporting 2716 most recent dreams. Overall, 18.30% of these dreams included animals with children reporting more animal dreams that adolescents and adults. The most frequent animals were again dogs, horses, and cats; about 20% of the dream animals were in fact pets of the dreamers. About 30% of the dream animals showed bizarre features, e.g., metamorphosing into humans or other animals, bigger than in real life, or can talk. Taken together, the findings support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming but also the idea that dreams reflect waking-life emotions in a metaphorical and dramatized way. Future studies should focus on eliciting waking-life experiences with animals, e.g., having a pet, animal-related media consumption, and relating these to experiences with animals in dreams.

Career Goal Discrepancy, Career Distress, and Goal Adjustment: Testing a Dual Moderated Process Model in Young Adults

2021 ◽  
pp. 106907272110633
Author(s):  
Anna Praskova ◽  
Lisa McPeake
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Career Goal ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Regulatory Processes ◽  
Goal Adjustment ◽  
Career Calling

Identifying a large discrepancy in young people’s career goal progress can lead to distress, activating meaning-making, self-regulatory mechanisms aimed at resolving the uncomfortable situation. We assessed these important career-regulatory processes in a theoretical model by testing the indirect effects of career goal discrepancy on goal adjustment (assimilation and accommodation) via career distress, and assessed the conditionality of these effects based on two moderators (career calling and negative career feedback). In a cross-sectional study, we recruited 287 young adults with a mean age of 23.79 years ( SD = 3.35), and tested complex dual moderated process model (OLS regression). Greater career goal discrepancy was associated with more career distress, and, in turn, less assimilative and more accommodative tendencies. These indirect effects depended on the level of career calling and negative career feedback. The findings can be used to tailor interventions to optimise the consequences of identified gaps in young people’s career progress.

Divergent effects of social media use on meaning in life via loneliness and existential isolation during the coronavirus pandemic

2022 ◽  
pp. 026540752110669
Author(s):  
Peter J. Helm ◽  
Tyler Jimenez ◽  
Madhwa S. Galgali ◽  
Megan E. Edwards ◽  
Kenneth E. Vail ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Media Use ◽  
The United States ◽  
Psychological Consequences ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Emotional Loneliness

Stay-at-home orders issued to combat the growing number of infections during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 had many psychological consequences for people including elevated stress, anxiety, and difficulty maintaining meaning in their lives. The present studies utilized cross-sectional designs and were conducted to better understand how social media usage related to people’s subjective isolation (i.e., social loneliness, emotional loneliness, and existential isolation) and meaning in life (MIL) during the early months of the pandemic within the United States. Study 1 found that general social media use indirectly predicted higher MIL via lower existential isolation and social isolation. Study 2 replicated these patterns and found that social media use also predicted lower MIL via higher emotional loneliness, and that the aforementioned effects occurred with active, but not passive, social media use. Findings suggest social media use may be a viable means to validate one’s experiences (i.e., reduce existential isolation) during the pandemic but may also lead to intensified feelings concerning missing others (i.e., increased emotional loneliness). This research also helps to identify potential divergent effects of social media on MIL and helps to clarify the relationships among varying types of subjective isolation.

scholarly journals Learning to stay employable

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Emanuel Froehlich ◽  
Simon Beausaert ◽  
Mien Segers ◽  
Maike Gerken
Keyword(s):  
Informal Learning ◽  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Mediation Effects ◽  
Older Employees ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of chronological age and formaland informal learning activities on employability. Furthermore, indirect effects of age on employabilityvia learning activities were tested.Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted quantitative, cross-sectional surveyresearch (n¼780) in three Dutch and Austrian organizations to study the relationship betweenchronological age, formal and informal learning activities, and employability using structural equationmodeling.Findings – The authors find that both formal and informal learning increase employees’ employability.However, each type of learning contributes to different components of employability. Additionally, theauthors find indirect effects of chronological age on employability via formal learning.Research limitations/implications – The results question the focus on chronological age inorganizational and political decision making and contribute new insights for the management of anincreasingly older workforce.Practical implications – The findings question the predominant use of chronological age asdecisive criterion in organizational and national policies and call for closer examination of stereotypesagainst older employees. Employees should be supported in pursuing learning activities – irrespectiveof their chronological age. The implications of limiting employees’ access to formal learning activitiesmay limit their future employability. Individual employees, however, are in control of their informallearning activities, and this is a very important lever to maintain and develop employability.Social implications – Given the increasing dependency of social welfare systems on older people’sactive participation in the labor market, this study stresses that it is not chronological age per se thataffects people’s employability. This diverges from the way of how chronological age is used in policymaking.Originality/value – This study contributes further evidence for the relationships of age and formaland informal learning on employability. Additionally, it extends previous literature by examiningdifferent effects on different facets of employability, criticizing the prevalent use of chronological age,and investigating potential mediation effects.

scholarly journals Nurses’ knowledge and practices related to pain assessment in critically ill patients in a selected private hospital in Bangladesh

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 4219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sipra Mondol ◽  
Faisal Muhammad ◽  
A. B. M. Alauddin Chowdhury
Keyword(s):  
Critically Ill ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Pain Assessment ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Management Interventions ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Nurses Knowledge

Background: Most of the time pain is difficult to assess and manage because of being inherently a subjective experience influenced by multiple factors. The perception and tolerance of pain may vary because of different psychological and social influences of the patient. Therefore it is important for health care providers to assess the pain so that individualized management interventions can be provided. This study was aimed to assess the nurses’ knowledge and practices related to pain assessment in critically ill patients.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 200 registered nurses working at different ICU in Square Hospital. The study was conducted within April to August 2017. A non-probability purposive sampling technique was used. The data was collected using pre-tested self-administered semi-structured questionnaire and it was analysed using SPSS 22.0 version.Results: About 81% of the respondents were in the age group 22-32 years and the mean age of the respondents was 27.74±12.06 years. About 79.0% of the respondents were female and 59.5% of the respondents had diploma in nursing. The mean monthly income of the respondents’ was 19450.5 taka. The majority (59.5%) of the respondents had less than 2 years’ service experience. About 85.5% of the respondents said it is important to assess the pain and need for analgesia before, during, and after wound care.Conclusions: Our findings reported that the nurses were reasonably knowledgeable about the principles of pain assessment. More than four-fifths of the respondents had adequate knowledge about pain assessment.

African business leadership: Perspectives from aspiring young leaders

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matete Lerutla ◽  
Renier Steyn
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Business Leadership ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Directed Content Analysis ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Definition Of

Orientation: Although a lot is written about leadership in Africa, little empirical research has been conducted and published in prominent academic journals, which comprehensively and specifically define the concept of African business leadership.Research purpose: The goal of the research study was to define the African business leadership comprehensively, tapping into the views of young leaders and making a contribution to the discourse and literature on leadership in Africa.Motivation for the study: Whilst business leadership practices are deemed to be universal by some, others argue that the matter is geographically specific. The latter view is supported by those interested in decolonisation and Africanisation. Although politically inspired and philosophically embedded definitions of African leadership are readily available, definitions stemming from empirical processes seem to be absent.Research approach, design and method: This research focuses on the sub-Saharan region, which accounts for the greater part of the African continent. A total of 121 adult students, representing 14 sub-Saharan countries, participated in this study. The participants were part of the Young African Leaders Initiative, a leadership development programme facilitated by the University of South Africa. A cross sectional survey design was used, as part of which open-ended questions were posed to the young leaders. Summative content analysis (Cohort 1) was uses to identify elements central to African leadership, and directed content analysis was then framed based on inter-relational plots, which include all these identified themes.Method: A cross-sectional survey design was used, as part of which open-ended questions were posed to the young leaders. Summative content analysis (Cohort 1) was used to identify elements central to African business leadership, and directed content analysis (Cohort 2) was applied to verify the themes. A definition of African business leadership was then framed based on inter-relational plots, which include all these identified themes.Main findings: Eight elements typical of African business leadership were identified and, following an analysis of inter-relational plots, a definition incorporating the participants’ inputs was crafted. African business leadership is seen as unique to leaders on the continent (Afrocentric), as an act of service to the community (Ubuntu), operating in challenging and resource-deprived environments (because of the legacy of colonialism) and providing hope for creating a better future. African business leadership is further seen as being dominated by those in positions of (political) authority, who engage in entrepreneurial activities, and yet as still requiring development because many leaders are corrupt (brokenness), which seems to be legitimised by post-colonial sentiments (Afro-centric).Contribution: The research study presents a multidimensional perspective on defining African business leadership, reiterating the admirable community orientation, but also the skill gaps, and therefore, the need for improvement.Practical Implications: The definition crafted from the research study provides a compelling conceptualisation of a phenomenon that is often described from only a philosophical or political perspective. This empirical research study contributes to the leadership debate by providing a multidimensional and comprehensive definition of African business leadership, incorporating both the positive and negative elements.

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