Target Happiness Attenuates Perceivers' Moral Condemnation of Prejudiced People.

Five experiments (combined N = 4,915) tested the prediction that the moral boost of happiness would persist for social targets with moral failings. In Studies 1 and 2, White and Black participants, respectively, judged happy (versus unhappy) racist targets more morally good. In Study 3, happy (versus unhappy) racist targets were judged more morally good and less (more) likely to engage in racist (good) behavior. Behavioral expectations explained the link between happiness and moral evaluations. Study 4 replicated Studies 1 to 3 in the context of sexism. In Study 5, happy (versus unhappy) targets who engaged in racially biased behavior were evaluated as more morally good, and this effect was explained by behavioral forecasts. Happiness boosts attributions of moral goodness for prejudiced people and does so via expectations for future behavior. Future directions are discussed.

Purpose maintained: Adverse childhood experiences and meaning in life.

OBJECTIVE: Three studies examined the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and meaning in life, focusing on the facets of meaning-coherence, significance, and purpose. METHOD: In Study 1 (N = 1804), college students rated adverse childhood experiences, global meaning in life, and its facets. In Study 2 (N = 822), noncollege adults rated childhood trauma, meaning in life facets, attachment style, mood, and neuroticism. In Study 3 (N = 380) college students wrote about a positive and negative childhood memory, rating the facets of meaning immediately after each writing task. RESULTS: In Studies 1-2, at the level of zero-order correlations, adverse childhood experiences related negatively to coherence, significance, and purpose. Controlling for the other facets, adverse childhood experiences remained negatively related to coherence and significance but were unrelated to purpose. Negative relationships between adverse childhood experiences and coherence and significance maintained controlling for covariates (Study 2). In Study 3, the predicted 3-way interaction showed that after recalling a negative childhood memory, adverse childhood experiences predicted lower significance and coherence but higher purpose. CONCLUSIONS: Adverse childhood experiences consistently predict lower feelings of coherence and significance but, accounting for these associations, are unrelated to purpose. Purpose may represent a motivational strength emerging out of childhood adversity.

Religious fundamentalism, right-wing authoritarianism, and meaning in life.

OBJECTIVE: Two studies examined the relationship between right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and religious fundamentalism (RF), and tested their unique contributions to meaning in life (MIL). METHOD: We recruited Amazon Mechanical Turk Participants located in the United States. Studies 1 (N = 827) included measures of RWA, RF, and global MIL. Study 2 (N = 809) additionally included measures of the facets of global MIL (existential significance, purpose, and coherence), and intrinsic religiosity. RESULTS: In both studies, RWA, RF, and MIL were positively correlated. Partial correlations and structural equation modeling showed that, when modeled together, RF significantly contributes to MIL and RWA facets were either unrelated or negatively related. Study 2 extended these results to show that RF primarily contributed positively to global MIL through existential significance, rather than purpose or coherence. When modeled jointly with intrinsic religiosity, religious fundamentalism no longer contributed to MIL. CONCLUSIONS: These studies demonstrate that RF positively contributes to the experience of MIL, and that the link between RWA and MIL arises from their mutual overlap with RF. The link between RF and MIL is about religiosity, rather than fundamentalism. Implications are discussed.

Exposure to authoritarian values leads to lower positive affect, higher negative affect, and higher meaning in life.

Five studies tested the effect of exposure to authoritarian values on positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), and meaning in life (MIL). Study 1 (N = 1,053) showed that simply completing a measure of right-wing authoritarianism (vs. not) prior to rating MIL led to higher MIL. Preregistered Study 2 (N = 1,904) showed that reading speeches by real-world authoritarians (e.g., Adolf Hitler) led to lower PA, higher NA, and higher MIL than a control passage. In preregistered Studies 3 (N = 1,573) and 4 (N = 1,512), Americans read authoritarian, egalitarian, or control messages and rated mood, MIL, and evaluated the passages. Both studies showed that egalitarian messages led to better mood and authoritarian messages led to higher MIL. Study 5 (N = 148) directly replicated these results with Canadians. Aggregating across studies (N = 3,401), moderational analyses showed that meaning in life, post manipulation, was associated with more favorable evaluations of the authoritarian passage. In addition, PA was a stronger predictor of MIL in the egalitarian and control conditions than in the authoritarian condition. Further results showed no evidence that negative mood (or disagreement) spurred the boost in MIL. Implications and future directions are discussed.

The Science of Meaning in Life.

Meaning in life has long been a mystery of human existence. In this review, we seek to demystify this construct. Focusing on the subjective experience of meaning in life, we review how it has been measured and briefly describe its correlates. Then we review evidence that meaning in life, for all its mystery, is a rather commonplace experience. We then define the construct and review its constituent facets: comprehension/coherence, purpose, and existential mattering/significance. We review the many experiences that have been shown to enhance meaning in life and close by considering important remaining research questions about this fascinating topic.

Lives of significance (and purpose and coherence): subclinical narcissism, meaning in life, and subjective well-being.

Three studies addressed two research questions. First, does accounting for meaning in life (MIL) wipe out the association between narcissism and other aspects of well-being? Second, among the three facets of MIL (significance, purpose, and coherence), does significance explain the association between narcissism and MIL? All studies measured narcissism and MIL. Study 1 was a re-analysis of cross-sectional data, including measures of subjective well-being (SWB) and self-deceptive enhancement (N = 415; Womick et al., 2019). Study 2, N = 300, measured the facets of MIL in a sample of adults. Study 3, N = 295, included MIL facets and self-esteem in a sample of students. In Studies 1 and 3, MIL fully mediated the relationship between narcissism and SWB. SWB did not fully mediate the association between narcissism and MIL. Studies 2 and 3 showed that all MIL facets accounted for the association between narcissism and MIL. Self-esteem partially mediated the association between narcissism and MIL, but self-esteem and MIL, both, independently wiped out the link between narcissism and SWB. Narcissism contributes to SWB through MIL, and the paths from narcissism to SWB through MIL and self-esteem are independent. Implications are discussed.

The existential function of right-wing authoritarianism.

OBJECTIVE: Four studies tested the existential and existential buffering functions of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). We tested whether the facets of meaning mediated these functions. METHOD: All studies measured RWA and meaning in life (MIL). Study 1, N = 2,319, also measured covariates, including Protestant Work Ethic and religiosity. Study 2, N = 505, examined RWA and meaning facets (purpose, coherence, and significance), and measured religiosity. Study 3, N = 971, measured psychological distress to test the existential buffering function of RWA. Study 4, N = 833, tested this hypothesis using meaning facets and tested for moderated mediation. RESULTS: In all studies, RWA and MIL were positively correlated. In Study 1, Protestant Work Ethic and religiosity weakened this association. In Study 2, significance mediated the association between RWA and global MIL. Religiosity wiped out the relationship between RWA and meaning variables, except significance. Study 3 supported the existential buffering hypothesis: distress and global MIL were less strongly related among those high on RWA. Study 4 replicated this finding for MIL facets. Significance mediated the existential buffering function of RWA. CONCLUSIONS: Findings extend scientific knowledge by demonstrating that RWA contributes to MIL, particularly existential mattering, and especially for those experiencing distress. We discuss implications for our understanding of RWA and MIL.

Meaning making, self-determination theory, and the question of wisdom in personality.

Self-determination theory (SDT) has advanced the most comprehensive model of motives for human flourishing in the field of personality psychology and beyond. In this article, we evaluate SDT relative to the process of meaning making, particularly from a narrative perspective, showing what SDT can and cannot explain about the construction of self-identity and its relation to human flourishing. On the one hand, SDT explains how subjective assessments of need fulfillment drive the process of self-determined living. The internal motives that follow such fulfillment serve as important themes in people's life stories that predict several markers of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. On the other hand, SDT's focus on subjective fulfillment limits what SDT can explain about how wisdom, which is a canonical good of both eudaimonia and meaning making, helps people make sense of life's more difficult or unfulfilling events. SDT may facilitate a facet of wisdom that is more subjective and experiential but not the critical facet of wisdom defined by objectively more complex structures of interpretation.

Routines and Meaning in Life.

Previous research links the experience of meaning in life (MIL) with environmental structure and the coherence of external stimuli. The current studies directly test the association between one source of structure in everyday life-routines-and MIL. First, Study 1 ( N = 317) found a positive relationship between trait preference for routine and MIL. Study 2 expanded upon this cross-sectional finding with experience sampling data ( N = 85; 2,590 episodes) showing that the degree to which current, naturally occurring, behavior followed a typical routine positively related to participants' momentary feelings of MIL. These findings have implications for conceptualizations of MIL, suggesting a previously unnoted, mundane, and ubiquitous source of MIL. The potential roles of boredom and novelty and individual and situational differences for these effects are discussed.

Moral self-regulation, moral identity, and religiosity.

The association between religiosity and morality identified in self-reports has received limited support from studies of actual behavior. We propose that religiosity variables are likely to contribute to moral behavior in the context of moral self-regulation. Five studies examined the prediction that people who strongly endorse the items "I try hard to live all my life according to my religious beliefs" and "My whole approach to life is based on my religion" and people who report strong God belief would exhibit heightened moral emotions and prosocial behaviors after moral self-image (MSI) threats. Study 1 (N = 169) demonstrated that considering a recent moral transgression (the manipulation used in Studies 2-5) resulted in lower MSI, regardless of participants' levels of endorsement of religion-related items. Study 2 (N = 207) showed that following a threat to MSI, religiosity variables predicted heightened negative affect and self-conscious moral emotions. Studies 3 through 5 (combined N = 616) showed that following MSI threats, individuals endorsing intrinsic religiosity and God belief items showed increased prosocial task completion (Studies 3 and 5) and decreased cheating on a word-solving task (Study 4). Study 5 demonstrated that moral identity accounted for the role of religiosity variables in promoting moral self-regulation following MSI threat. Noting that these findings are limited to people representative of the participants in these samples (Mechanical Turk workers; University of Missouri undergraduate students), and to the precise measures and manipulations used, implications of these findings and constraints on their generalizability are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Gender Differences in Emotion Explain Women's Lower Immoral Intentions and Harsher Moral Condemnation.

Why do men view morally questionable behaviors as more permissible than women do? Five studies investigated emotional factors as explanations for gender differences in moral decision-making. In Study 1 ( N = 324), gender differences in perceptions of moral wrongness were explained by guilt and shame proneness. Studies 2a and 2b (combined N = 562) demonstrated that instructions to adopt an unemotional perspective (vs. standard instructions) led women to have higher immoral intentions, no longer lower than men's, as they were in the control group. Studies 3 and 4 ( N = 834) showed that men expected immoral actions to result in higher positive and lower self-conscious moral emotions than women do. Study 4 ( N = 424) showed that these emotional expectancies account for gender differences in immoral intentions. Study 5 ( N = 450) showed that women-but not men-experience heightened self-conscious moral emotions and regret when recalling past transgressions done for personal gain.

Personality development through natural language.

Ego level is a broad construct that summarizes individual differences in personality development 1 . We examine ego level as it is represented in natural language, using a composite sample of four datasets comprising nearly 44,000 responses. We find support for a developmental sequence in the structure of correlations between ego levels, in analyses of Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) categories 2 and in an examination of the individual words that are characteristic of each level. The LIWC analyses reveal increasing complexity and, to some extent, increasing breadth of perspective with higher levels of development. The characteristic language of each ego level suggests, for example, a shift from consummatory to appetitive desires at the lowest stages, a dawning of doubt at the Self-aware stage, the centrality of achievement motivation at the Conscientious stage, an increase in mutuality and intellectual growth at the Individualistic stage and some renegotiation of life goals and reflection on identity at the highest levels of development. Continuing empirical analysis of ego level and language will provide a deeper understanding of ego development, its relationship with other models of personality and individual differences, and its utility in characterizing people, texts and the cultural contexts that produce them.

Individual differences in reliance on intuition predict harsher moral judgments.

The notion that intuition guides moral judgment is widely accepted. Yet, there is a dearth of research examining whether individual differences in reliance on intuition influence moral judgment. Five studies provided evidence that faith in intuition (FI) predicts higher condemnation of moral transgressions. Studies 1 and 2 (combined N = 543) demonstrated that FI predicted higher moral condemnation of strange actions characterized by ambiguous harm. This association maintained controlling for a host of relevant ideological and emotional "third" variables. Three experiments demonstrated this relationship to be robust in the face of manipulations. In Study 3 (N = 320), participants rated whether moral scenarios involved harm or victims prior to (vs. after) moral judgments. Although considering harm and victims prior to judgments lowered condemnation toward these actions, the manipulation did not moderate the association between FI and condemnation. FI related to moral condemnation of unconventional actions even after consideration of harm and victims. In Study 4 (N = 236), a manipulation designed to enhance deliberation lowered overall moral condemnation (vs. control group), but did not attenuate the relationship between FI and moral condemnation. In Study 5 (N = 204), participants quickly categorized actions according to whether or not they were immoral, harmful, or involved victims. FI predicted higher condemnation of ambiguously harmful actions even when these judgments were made rapidly. Implications for examining individual differences in intuition in the context of dominant theories in moral psychology (dyadic morality, Moral Foundations Theory) are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Meaning in life and intuition.

Three correlational studies and 2 experiments examined the association between meaning in life (MIL) and reliance on intuitive information processing. In Studies 1-3 (total N = 5,079), Faith in Intuition (FI) scale and MIL were correlated positively, controlling for religiosity, positive mood, self-esteem, basic need satisfaction, and need for cognition. Two experiments manipulated processing style. In Study 4 (N = 614), participants were randomly assigned to complete the Cognitive Reflection Task (CRT; Fredrick, 2005) either immediately before (reflective/low intuitive mindset condition) or immediately after (control condition) rating MIL. Condition did not affect MIL. However, low MIL rated before the CRT predicted superior performance and greater time spent on the task. The association between reflection and MIL was curvilinear, such that MIL was strongly negatively related to CRT performance particularly at low levels of MIL. In Study 5 (N = 804), intuitive or reflective mindsets were induced and FI and MIL were measured. Induced processing style study did not affect MIL. However, those high in MIL were more responsive to the intuitive mindset induction. The relationship between FI and MIL was curvilinear (in this and the correlational studies), with intuitive processing being strongly positively related to MIL particularly at higher levels of MIL. Although often considered in the context of conscious reflection, MIL shares a positive relationship with reliance on gut feelings, and high MIL may facilitate reliance on those feelings. (PsycINFO Database Record

Self-reports of meaning in life matter.

Replies to the comments made by Friedman (see record 2015-39598-012), Jeffery & Shackelford (see record 2015-39598-013), Brown & Wong (see record 2015-39598-014), Fowers & Lefevor (see record 2015-39598-015), Hill et al. (see record 2015-39598-016) on the current authors' original article, "Life is pretty meaningful," (see record 2014-03265-001). The current authors thank the comment authors for their efforts, and acknowledge their dedication to what is often a difficult and inscrutable construct, meaning in life. One lesson the current authors have learned from these reactions is that a review of self-report responses to items like "My life is purposeful and meaningful" cannot encompass the entirety of the meaning-in-life landscape. In this reply, the current authors reflect on aspects of the commentaries, highlighting what they can garner about meaning in life from the portion of it that is reflected in phenomenological experience and represented in self-reports: These are the data they have. The current authors first consider three methodological concerns that bear on whether these data are informative (at all) and then they consider more conceptual critiques.

(The feeling of) meaning-as-information.

The desire for meaning is recognized as a central human motive. Yet, knowing that people want meaning does not explain its function. What adaptive problem does this experience solve? Drawing on the feelings-as-information hypothesis, we propose that the feeling of meaning provides information about the presence of reliable patterns and coherence in the environment, information that is not provided by affect. We review research demonstrating that manipulations of stimulus coherence influence subjective reports of meaning in life but not affect. We demonstrate that manipulations that foster an associative mindset enhance meaning. The meaning-as-information perspective embeds meaning in a network of foundational functions including associative learning, perception, cognition, and neural processing. This approach challenges assumptions about meaning, including its motivational appeal, the roles of expectancies and novelty in this experience, and the notion that meaning is inherently constructed. Implications for constructed meaning and existential meanings are discussed.

Life is pretty meaningful.

The human experience of meaning in life is widely viewed as a cornerstone of well-being and a central human motivation. Self-reports of meaning in life relate to a host of important functional outcomes. Psychologists have portrayed meaning in life as simultaneously chronically lacking in human life as well as playing an important role in survival. Examining the growing literature on meaning in life, we address the question "How meaningful is life, in general?" We review possible answers from various psychological sources, some of which anticipate that meaning in life should be low and others that it should be high. Summaries of epidemiological data and research using two self-report measures of meaning in life suggest that life is pretty meaningful. Diverse samples rate themselves significantly above the midpoint on self-reports of meaning in life. We suggest that if meaning in life plays a role in adaptation, it must be commonplace, as our analysis suggests.

Encounters with objective coherence and the experience of meaning in life.

The experience of meaning is often conceptualized as involving reliable pattern or coherence. However, research has not addressed whether exposure to pattern or coherence influences the phenomenological experience of meaning in life. Four studies tested the prediction that exposure to objective coherence (vs. incoherence) would lead to higher reports of meaning in life. In Studies 1 and 2 (combined N = 214), adults rated photographs of trees presented in patterns (organized around their seasonal content) or randomly. Participants in the pattern conditions reported higher meaning in life than those in the random conditions. Studies 3 and 4 (combined N = 229) yielded similar results when participants read coherent, as opposed to incoherent, linguistic triads. The manipulations did not influence explicit or implicit affect. Implications for understanding the human experience of meaning, the processes that support that experience, and its potential role in adaptation are discussed.

Positive affect, meaning in life, and future time perspective: an application of socioemotional selectivity theory.

Four studies tested the prediction that positive affect (PA) would relate more strongly to meaning in life (MIL) as a function of perceived time limitations. In Study 1 (N = 360), adults completed measures of PA and MIL. As predicted, PA related more strongly to MIL for older, compared to younger, participants. In Studies 2 and 3, adults (N = 514) indicated their current position in their life span, and rated their MIL. PA, whether naturally occurring (Study 2) or induced (Study 3), was a stronger predictor of MIL for individuals who perceived themselves as having a limited amount of time left to live. Finally, in Study 4 (N = 98) students completed a measure of PA, MIL, and future time perspective (FTP). Results showed that PA was more strongly linked to MIL for those who believed they had fewer opportunities left to pursue their goals. Overall, these findings suggest that the experience of PA becomes increasingly associated with the experience of MIL as the perception of future time becomes limited. The contribution of age related processes to judgments of well-being are discussed.