Preface Sciabarra, Chris Matthew
The journal of Ayn Rand studies,
12/2019, Letnik:
19, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
On 10 October 1957, Random House published Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged. Now, more than sixty years after the publication of Rand’s magnum opus, The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies presents four ...essays offering dramatically different perspectives on the novel’s meaning, context, and legacy
Orientation Meaning is not a concept whose significance needs to be debated anymore. Rather, the meaning of meaning is a concept that needs more clarity to improve its understanding.Research purpose ...In this paper, the construct of meaning is deconstructed to develop a lexicon of the respective meanings of meaning, especially as they apply to the domain of work.Motivation for the study Descriptions of the various meanings of meaning tend to be lost across many different journal articles and books. More clarity regarding the meanings of meaning and how they compare and relate with each other is essential to promote valid research and influential practice in this field.Research approach/design and method Theoretical research is conducted through a literature study and the meanings of meaning are determined through theory synthesis and topical analyses.Main findings Meaning is a multidimensional construct, especially as it applies to the work context. The concept of meaning in life is distinct and should be distinguished from related concepts, such as the meaning of work, meaning at work, meaning in work, and meaningful work.Practical/managerial implications By clarifying meanings of meaning, the lexicon provides a unique reference work for scholars, and an essential guide for practitioners in the fields of psychology, industrial and organisational psychology, and even psychiatry, who aspire to advance and promote meaningfulness in their work contexts.Contribution/value-add As far as could be established, this is the first lexicon of the meanings of meaning in one easy-to-use compendium, for accurate comparison and reference.
The Science of Meaning in Life King, Laura A; Hicks, Joshua A
Annual review of psychology,
01/2021, Letnik:
72, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
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.
Lurking behind every conception of intelligence—whether an implicit (folk) or explicit (expert-generated) conception—is an underlying theory of meaning that specifies the form the theory of ...intelligence does and, indeed, can take. These underlying theories of meaning become presuppositions for the conception’s form. The theories of meaning have different origins—for example, psycholinguistic, philosophical, and anthropological. This essay reviews the different underlying theories of meaning and proposes a new historical causal-chain theory of conceptions of intelligence. The underlying theories of meaning affect the flexibility and modifiability of laypersons’ (implicit) and experts’ (explicit) conceptions of intelligence. As a result, these historical causal chains have profound but largely invisible effects on societies.
Despite growing interest in meaning in life, many have voiced their concern over the conceptual refinement of the construct itself. Researchers seem to have two main ways to understand what meaning ...in life means: coherence and purpose, with a third way, significance, gaining increasing attention. Coherence means a sense of comprehensibility and one's life making sense. Purpose means a sense of core goals, aims, and direction in life. Significance is about a sense of life's inherent value and having a life worth living. Although some researchers have already noted this trichotomy, the present article provides the first comprehensible theoretical overview that aims to define and pinpoint the differences and connections between these three facets of meaning. By arguing that the time is ripe to move from indiscriminate understanding of meaning into looking at these three facets separately, the article points toward a new future for research on meaning in life.
Nostalgia increases meaning in life (MIL), but how so? In four experiments—using varied operationalizations of nostalgia, diverse populations, and complementary methodologies—we identified a serial ...process. We hypothesized and found, in Experiment 1, that self‐continuity boosts MIL. We hypothesized and found, in Experiment 2, that nostalgia increases MIL through self‐continuity. Finally, we hypothesized and found, in Experiments 3–4, that nostalgia fosters social connectedness, which plausibly heightens self‐continuity, which in turn strengthens MIL. The findings clarify an intricate pathway through which nostalgia renders life more meaningful.
Objective
People can be categorized into one of four meaning‐in‐life profiles: High Presence High Search (HPHS), High Presence Low Search (HPLS), Low Presence High Search (LPHS), and Low Presence Low ...Search (LPLS).The main goal of this study is to provide a theoretical explanation for why Chinese people with different meaning‐in‐life profiles have different mental health levels than Western people, based on their emotional‐cognitive‐processing ability.
Method
We adopted eye‐movement analysis and recognition‐judgment experimental paradigm concerning absolute‐recognition judgment and relative‐recognition judgment in our study. Moreover, we applied a multifactor and multilevel mixed‐experimental design. We selected 118 participants for the experiments from the 788 Chinese college students who responded.
Results
Our results showed that HPHS individuals preferred positive‐emotion pictures, LPLS individuals preferred negative‐emotion pictures, HPLS individuals preferred positive‐ and neutral‐emotion pictures, and LPHS individuals preferred neutral‐emotion pictures. Moreover, HPHS individuals were better at accurately processing facial expression from pictures, while LPLS individuals lacked such ability. The fine‐processing ability of HPLS and LPHS individuals was lower than that of HPHS yet higher than that of LPLS individuals. Moreover, the features of HPLS individuals were closer to HPHS, while those of LPHS individuals were closer to LPLS.
Conclusions
Our findings support the hypothesis that meaning‐in‐life profiles have different immediate processing abilities and preferences regarding facial expression recognition and different emotional‐cognitive‐processing ability.
When discussing vocabulary, a distinction is often made between size of vocabulary (number of known words) and depth of knowledge (how well those words are known). However, the relationship between ...the two constructs is still unclear. Some scholars argue that there is little real difference between the two, while regression analyses show that depth typically adds unique explanatory power compared to size alone. Ultimately, the relationship between size and depth of vocabulary knowledge depends on how each is conceptualized and measured. In an attempt to provide an empirical basis for exploring the size–depth relationship, this critical synthesis identifies studies that contain measures of both size and depth. Based on a number of different conceptualizations of depth, various patterns emerged. For higher frequency words and for learners with smaller vocabulary sizes, there is often little difference between size and a variety of depth measures. However, for lower frequency words and for larger vocabulary sizes, there is often a gap between size and depth, as depth measures lag behind the measures of size. Furthermore, some types of word knowledge (e.g., derivative knowledge) seem to have generally lower correlations with size than other types.
To advance meaning in life (MIL) research, it is crucial to integrate it with the broader meaning literature, which includes important additional concepts (e.g., meaning frameworks) and principles ...(e.g., terror management). A tripartite view, which conceptualizes MIL as consisting of 3 subconstructs-comprehension, purpose, and mattering-may facilitate such integration. Here, we outline how a tripartite view may relate to key concepts from within MIL research (e.g., MIL judgments and feelings) and within the broader meaning research (e.g., meaning frameworks, meaning making). On the basis of this framework, we review the broader meaning literature to derive a theoretical context within which to understand and conduct further research on comprehension, purpose, and mattering. We highlight how future research may examine the interrelationships among the 3 MIL subconstructs, MIL judgments and feelings, and meaning frameworks.
PDF
