The document presents a study that examined how attaining personal goals impacts existential and psychological well-being. It hypothesized that attaining goals would boost well-being, and that effects would be stronger for goals that were autonomously motivated or intrinsically oriented rather than controlled or extrinsic. The results supported these hypotheses, finding that goal attainment significantly predicted increases in well-being and that intrinsically motivated goals had a greater impact.
Lifenik teaches skills that both decrease ill-being and increase well-being. It is based on cutting edge-research across multiple different fields, focuses on motivation to better improve outcomes, and measures well-being to assess effectiveness.
For these reasons, Lifenik is a
One-of-a-kind solution to improving well-being.
The history of mankind has been the history of improvement. Darwin's concept of the survival of the fittest certainly applies to the business community. In the construction industry, the failure rate is about 25% and although there are many reasons for this, one of the prominent ones is that companies do not organize for sustainability and do not continue to do the things necessary to face ever changing challenges which give them the fuel for sustainability. Total Quality Management is a process for continual improvement. Construction contractors should evaluate what TQM has to offer and from that evaluation customize concepts that are appropriate to its culture and needs. This webinar provides the guidance to construction contractors' evaluation of the principles of TQM which can and perhaps should be implemented in a given company.
Lifenik teaches skills that both decrease ill-being and increase well-being. It is based on cutting edge-research across multiple different fields, focuses on motivation to better improve outcomes, and measures well-being to assess effectiveness.
For these reasons, Lifenik is a
One-of-a-kind solution to improving well-being.
The history of mankind has been the history of improvement. Darwin's concept of the survival of the fittest certainly applies to the business community. In the construction industry, the failure rate is about 25% and although there are many reasons for this, one of the prominent ones is that companies do not organize for sustainability and do not continue to do the things necessary to face ever changing challenges which give them the fuel for sustainability. Total Quality Management is a process for continual improvement. Construction contractors should evaluate what TQM has to offer and from that evaluation customize concepts that are appropriate to its culture and needs. This webinar provides the guidance to construction contractors' evaluation of the principles of TQM which can and perhaps should be implemented in a given company.
Predicting life meaning and satisfaction with religious & spiritual strugglesNick Stauner
(2015, March). Presented at the Midyear Research Conference on Religion and Spirituality, Provo, Utah.
Abstract:
Religiousness is known to relate positively to well-being and meaning in life within the North American population. Evidence suggests complexities in these relationships; for example, meaning may mediate the relationship between well-being and religiousness. Other religious constructs have attracted empirical research recently, including religious doubt and conflict with God. The Religious & Spiritual Struggles (RSS) Scale measures six such forms of religious and spiritual struggle, including divine, demonic, moral, interpersonal, ultimate meaning, and doubt struggles. To what extent do these various religious constructs uniquely predict cognitive well-being? Does their emphasis on spiritual and religious problems differentiate them from religiousness per se? Do predictive relationships support theories that distinguish meaning from life satisfaction as separate correlates of religiousness? To investigate, we fit a structural equation model to responses from a sample of 2,611 undergraduates from the USA. This model predicted meaning in life and life satisfaction separately from eight religious constructs, including the six forms of spiritual struggle, religious belief salience, and religious participation. Results demonstrated the importance of measuring each construct independently, as some but not all struggles predicted unique variance in meaning and well-being when controlling for religious belief salience and participation. This establishes the incremental value of involving spiritual and religious struggles in predictive models of well-being based on religious traits. Patterns of regression coefficients differed when predicting meaning in life versus life satisfaction, and model fit worsened when constraining paths to be equal for life satisfaction and meaning in life. This supports the discriminant validity of these strongly related yet distinct aspects of cognitive well-being. The different lists of independent predictors for these well-being constructs may help elucidate their complex connections with religion and spirituality.
Is it more money what really improves our motivation? Does higher salary make me more happy? If not, what then...? This presentation summarizes in a popular way the state of art of motivation and happiness research.
Work life integration: What does success look like?milfamln
This webinar will address the dynamic interplay between “work” and “life” with discussion about managing personal energy, gaining greater clarity about priorities, and approaching inevitable challenges. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on their own abundant, full lives and begin to create personalized, sustainable strategies for “making it all work.”
Learning Objectives
In this webinar, participants will be able to
-Define "work life integration"
-Learn strategies for managing personal energy and managing priorities
-Learn how to use laughter, and other tools, to relieve stress
Preparing for a happy and successful retirementeph-hr
Financial planning is not the only area that one needs to consider when preparing for retirement. When the structure of work ends it can raise many questions. Some examples of these questions are how should I spend my time, what if I get bored and don’t like being retired and/or will spending so much time together with my partner be a good thing or not. Some people thrive and enjoy being retired while others can slip into periods of self-doubt and even depression once retired.
Stressful life events and religiousness predict struggles about religion and ...Nick Stauner
Religious and spiritual struggles arise in various forms and circumstances. The newly developed Religious and Spiritual Struggles (RSS) scale reveals a coherent, multidimensional structure in these domain-specific problems that applies to religious and nonreligious people alike. Thus new questions emerge. Do religious people struggle less with religion, or more? Struggles and stress seem likely to coincide, but might stressful life events give rise to fewer religious struggles among religious people? We tested this moderation hypothesis in a large sample of American undergraduates, who completed the RSS and measures of stressful life events, religious belief salience, and religious participation. Latent interaction factors for religiousness and stressful life events failed to predict additional variance in most RSS factors in a structural equation model using polychoric correlations, yielding no support for the moderation hypothesis. However, religiousness and stressful life events independently predicted higher scores on most factors of the RSS in most samples.
Distinguishing religious and spiritual struggles from religiousness and negat...Nick Stauner
(2015, January). Data blitz presented at the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality preconference of the 17th annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Diego, CA.
The Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale (RSS) measures an important set of psychological constructs in an underemphasized section of the overlap between religion and well-being. The RSS assesses six domains of religious and spiritual struggle: divine, demonic, interpersonal, moral, doubt, and ultimate meaning. A previous confirmatory factor analysis of a moderately sized sample found good fit for the intended measurement model with six first-order factors. We replicated this model across five large adult samples from the USA (total N = 5,617). Next, we fit a restricted bifactor model to test whether a single general factor of religious/spiritual struggle could explain these factors’ correlations with each other, religiousness, or negative emotionality. This model’s balanced loadings supported the mutual viability of multidimensional and unidimensional scoring systems for the RSS. Additionally, we explored a bifactor model with correlated group factors that improved fit statistics. This model maintained the correlations among the original six factors while extracting an ambiguous general factor from the RSS. This general factor’s strong correlations with religious participation and belief salience suggested that it represents religiousness itself. Allowing religious items to load on the RSS’ general factor verified this. It also permitted estimation of a second general factor from all RSS items. This second general factor of spiritual struggle correlated fairly strongly with a common factor of neuroticism, depression, anxiety, and stress. The negative emotionality factor also correlated with most of this model’s independent group factors that correspond to the original dimensions of the RSS, especially Ultimate Meaning struggle. These analyses demonstrate both the discriminant validity of the six domains of religious/spiritual struggles and the complexity of their relationships with religiousness and negative emotionality. As an ancillary purpose of these analyses, we review, demonstrate, and advocate modern categorical structural equation modeling techniques throughout this project.
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Similar to 2012 Presentation - Existential and Psychological Health as Products of Intrinsic Goal Attainment
Predicting life meaning and satisfaction with religious & spiritual strugglesNick Stauner
(2015, March). Presented at the Midyear Research Conference on Religion and Spirituality, Provo, Utah.
Abstract:
Religiousness is known to relate positively to well-being and meaning in life within the North American population. Evidence suggests complexities in these relationships; for example, meaning may mediate the relationship between well-being and religiousness. Other religious constructs have attracted empirical research recently, including religious doubt and conflict with God. The Religious & Spiritual Struggles (RSS) Scale measures six such forms of religious and spiritual struggle, including divine, demonic, moral, interpersonal, ultimate meaning, and doubt struggles. To what extent do these various religious constructs uniquely predict cognitive well-being? Does their emphasis on spiritual and religious problems differentiate them from religiousness per se? Do predictive relationships support theories that distinguish meaning from life satisfaction as separate correlates of religiousness? To investigate, we fit a structural equation model to responses from a sample of 2,611 undergraduates from the USA. This model predicted meaning in life and life satisfaction separately from eight religious constructs, including the six forms of spiritual struggle, religious belief salience, and religious participation. Results demonstrated the importance of measuring each construct independently, as some but not all struggles predicted unique variance in meaning and well-being when controlling for religious belief salience and participation. This establishes the incremental value of involving spiritual and religious struggles in predictive models of well-being based on religious traits. Patterns of regression coefficients differed when predicting meaning in life versus life satisfaction, and model fit worsened when constraining paths to be equal for life satisfaction and meaning in life. This supports the discriminant validity of these strongly related yet distinct aspects of cognitive well-being. The different lists of independent predictors for these well-being constructs may help elucidate their complex connections with religion and spirituality.
Is it more money what really improves our motivation? Does higher salary make me more happy? If not, what then...? This presentation summarizes in a popular way the state of art of motivation and happiness research.
Work life integration: What does success look like?milfamln
This webinar will address the dynamic interplay between “work” and “life” with discussion about managing personal energy, gaining greater clarity about priorities, and approaching inevitable challenges. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on their own abundant, full lives and begin to create personalized, sustainable strategies for “making it all work.”
Learning Objectives
In this webinar, participants will be able to
-Define "work life integration"
-Learn strategies for managing personal energy and managing priorities
-Learn how to use laughter, and other tools, to relieve stress
Preparing for a happy and successful retirementeph-hr
Financial planning is not the only area that one needs to consider when preparing for retirement. When the structure of work ends it can raise many questions. Some examples of these questions are how should I spend my time, what if I get bored and don’t like being retired and/or will spending so much time together with my partner be a good thing or not. Some people thrive and enjoy being retired while others can slip into periods of self-doubt and even depression once retired.
Stressful life events and religiousness predict struggles about religion and ...Nick Stauner
Religious and spiritual struggles arise in various forms and circumstances. The newly developed Religious and Spiritual Struggles (RSS) scale reveals a coherent, multidimensional structure in these domain-specific problems that applies to religious and nonreligious people alike. Thus new questions emerge. Do religious people struggle less with religion, or more? Struggles and stress seem likely to coincide, but might stressful life events give rise to fewer religious struggles among religious people? We tested this moderation hypothesis in a large sample of American undergraduates, who completed the RSS and measures of stressful life events, religious belief salience, and religious participation. Latent interaction factors for religiousness and stressful life events failed to predict additional variance in most RSS factors in a structural equation model using polychoric correlations, yielding no support for the moderation hypothesis. However, religiousness and stressful life events independently predicted higher scores on most factors of the RSS in most samples.
Distinguishing religious and spiritual struggles from religiousness and negat...Nick Stauner
(2015, January). Data blitz presented at the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality preconference of the 17th annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Diego, CA.
The Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale (RSS) measures an important set of psychological constructs in an underemphasized section of the overlap between religion and well-being. The RSS assesses six domains of religious and spiritual struggle: divine, demonic, interpersonal, moral, doubt, and ultimate meaning. A previous confirmatory factor analysis of a moderately sized sample found good fit for the intended measurement model with six first-order factors. We replicated this model across five large adult samples from the USA (total N = 5,617). Next, we fit a restricted bifactor model to test whether a single general factor of religious/spiritual struggle could explain these factors’ correlations with each other, religiousness, or negative emotionality. This model’s balanced loadings supported the mutual viability of multidimensional and unidimensional scoring systems for the RSS. Additionally, we explored a bifactor model with correlated group factors that improved fit statistics. This model maintained the correlations among the original six factors while extracting an ambiguous general factor from the RSS. This general factor’s strong correlations with religious participation and belief salience suggested that it represents religiousness itself. Allowing religious items to load on the RSS’ general factor verified this. It also permitted estimation of a second general factor from all RSS items. This second general factor of spiritual struggle correlated fairly strongly with a common factor of neuroticism, depression, anxiety, and stress. The negative emotionality factor also correlated with most of this model’s independent group factors that correspond to the original dimensions of the RSS, especially Ultimate Meaning struggle. These analyses demonstrate both the discriminant validity of the six domains of religious/spiritual struggles and the complexity of their relationships with religiousness and negative emotionality. As an ancillary purpose of these analyses, we review, demonstrate, and advocate modern categorical structural equation modeling techniques throughout this project.
Search for meaning in life: Evidence for nuanced associations with psychologi...Nick Stauner
(2016, January). Poster presented at the 17th convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Diego, CA.
Searching for meaning in life has been conceptualized as a fundamental human motivation that plays an integral role in mature development. Yet most empirical research on search for meaning has revealed it to be associated with a poorer profile of psychological health. We examined how searching for meaning relates to a broad range of indicators of psychological adjustment in 7 large‐scales studies (total N = 10,067). We found the traditional associations between search for meaning and indicators of negative emotional health (e.g., depression, anxiety, stress), but we also discovered evidence for more nuanced relations between search for meaning with personality and mental health variables. Specifically, among people reporting high levels of presence of meaning in life, search for meaning was conducive to well being. Additionally, although search was related to religious and spiritual struggle, it was also associated with a more
engaged approach to resolving those struggles.
The relationship of meaning in life to religious and spiritual characterNick Stauner
(2015, August). Poster presented at the convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Ontario.
The sense that life is meaningful is known to relate positively to common religious and spiritual beliefs, traits, and behaviors within the North American population. Examples of such constructs that correlate with meaning in life include belief in an afterlife, intrinsic religiousness, and religious reading, meditation, or service attendance. Meaning in life may also mediate relationships between religion or spirituality and subjective well-being. This underscores the importance of the role meaning in life plays in the junction of positive psychology and spirituality. To enrich our understanding of how meaning in life connects with religion and spirituality, this study explored bivariate relationships between meaning in life and a variety of personality constructs pertaining to God, religious organizations, and spiritual issues. Our method was to estimate factor correlations from structural equation models, using polychoric correlations to accommodate Likert scale measurement in a large undergraduate sample from the USA. In terms of beliefs about God, meaning in life correlated positively with beliefs that God exists, that one can relate to God in a personal, comprehensible, and desirable way, that God is available and warm in temperament, and that God intervenes actively in the world. Meaning in life also correlated positively with desire to believe in God and certainty of beliefs about God, and negatively with doubts about God’s existence and perceived conflicts with God. Regarding attitudes toward organized religion, meaning in life correlated positively with positivity toward religion, close involvement with a spiritual group, socially supportive responses to religious/spiritual struggles, and fundamentalism, and correlated negatively with personal disengagement from one’s religion, conflicts with religion, extrinsic social motivation for religious attendance, and social invalidation of religious/spiritual struggles. Results concerning religious/spiritual orientation included positive correlations between meaning in life and religious belief salience, self-perceived clarity of religious views, openness to doubt and other viewpoints about one’s faith, and religious exploration. Negative correlations manifested between meaning in life and experiences of religious and spiritual struggle, avoidance of religious questions, self-perceived complexity of religious views and difficulty of religious questions, religious quest orientation, and belief that all world religions are equally valid. Concerning the spiritual issue of suffering, meaning in life correlated positively with beliefs that God shares in human suffering, that suffering is part of God’s plan, that God is experienced through suffering but transcends it, and that suffering promotes spiritual growth. Meaning in life related negatively to beliefs that...
Estimators for structural equation models of Likert scale dataNick Stauner
Which estimation method is optimal for structural equation modeling (SEM) of Likert scale data? Conventional SEM assumes continuous measurement, and some SEM estimators assume a multivariate normal distribution, but Likert scale data are ordinal and do not necessarily resemble a discretized normal distribution. When treated as continuous, these data may yet be skewed due to item difficulty, choice of population, or various response biases. One can fit an SEM to a matrix of polychoric correlations, which estimate latent, continuous constructs underlying ordinally measured variables, but polychoric correlations also assume these latent factors are normally distributed. To what extent are these methods robust with continuous versus ordinal data and with varying degrees of skewness and kurtosis? To answer, I simulated 10,000 samples of multivariate normal data, each consisting of 500 observations of five strongly correlated variables. I transformed each consecutive sample to an incrementally greater degree to increase skew and kurtosis from approximately normal levels to extremes beyond six and 30, respectively. I then performed five confirmatory factor analyses on each sample using five different estimators: maximum likelihood (ML), weighted least squares (WLS), diagonally weighted least squares (DWLS), unweighted least squares (ULS), and generalized least squares (GLS). I compared results for continuous and discretized (ordinal) data, including loadings, error variances, fit statistics, and standard errors. I also noted frequencies of failures, which complicated calculation of polychoric correlations, and particularly plagued the WLS estimator. WLS estimation produced relatively biased loadings and error variance estimates. GLS also underestimated error variances. Neither estimator exhibited any unique advantage to offset these disadvantages. ML estimated parameters more accurately, but some fit statistics appeared biased by it, especially in the context of extreme nonnormality. Specifically, the chi squared goodness-of-fit test statistic and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) began higher with ML-estimated SEMs of approximately normal data, and worsened sharply with greater nonnormality. The Tucker Lewis Index (TLI) and standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) also worsened more moderately with nonnormality when using ML estimation. GLS-estimated fit statistics shared ML’s sensitivity to nonnormality, and were even worse for the TLI and SRMR. Results generally favored ULS and DWLS estimators, which produced accurate parameter estimates, good and robust fit statistics, and small standard errors (SEs) for loadings. DWLS tended to produce smaller SEs than ULS when skewness was below three, but ULS SEs were more robust to nonnormality and smaller with extremely nonnormal data. ML SEs were larger for loadings, but smaller for error variance estimates, and fairly robust to nonnormality...
Neuroticism and stressful life events predict religious and spiritual strugglesNick Stauner
(2015, August). Symposium presented at the convention of the International Association for the Psychology of Religion, Istanbul, Turkey.
Abstract:
Recent research has demonstrated that religious and spiritual struggle (RSS) plays an important role in the relationship between religion and well-being. To what extent might RSS arise from personality and environmental stress? We hypothesized that neuroticism and stressful life events predict RSS independently and interact as well, such that neuroticism strengthens the link between stress and struggle. Regression analyses of factor scores from 2,719 undergraduates in USA revealed independent effects of neuroticism and stressful past experiences on six kinds of RSS, but no interactions emerged. Thus personality and experience may both affect RSS additively. Neuroticism better predicted most struggles, especially ultimate meaning struggles, but stress predicted demonic and interpersonal struggles slightly more. Mediation analyses also explored indirect effects. Some trait theorists claim that essential traits precede environmental factors causally, suggesting that neuroticism may lead to stress; conversely, stress could increase state neuroticism. Hence we considered both as possible mediators of each other’s effects. All indirect pathways achieved significance, but most had very weak effect sizes. Given weaker direct effects of stress in general, any indirect effects mediated by neuroticism would appear more substantial. Longitudinal work may help resolve this causal ambiguity.
The demographics of religious and spiritual struggles in the USANick Stauner
(2015, October). Symposium presented at the convention of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Newport Beach, CA.
Recently, research linking religion and spirituality to well-being has extended beyond the supportive roles of religion to examine struggles that people experience in religious and spiritual domains of life. People struggle with many issues in religion and spirituality, including relational challenges with divine beings and religious people or organizations, demonic influences, and personal difficulties with morality, religious and spiritual doubt, and ultimate meaning. A new measure, the Religious and Spiritual Struggles (RSS) scale, has demonstrated construct validity in men and women, and people who consider themselves religious, spiritual, both, or neither, regardless of belief in a divine being or religious affiliation. However, frequencies of struggles differ across these groups. To further study demographic variations in struggles, we sampled 19,726 adult participants from throughout the USA and across a wide range of ages and religious affiliations. Single-item measures of the six RSS domains measured struggles in this sample. Exploratory analyses revealed a broad array of complex effects from all demographic factors considered, including age, gender, sexual orientation, region of the USA, religious affiliation, and some interactions among these factors. For example, men reported more of all struggles than women, but this difference only appeared clear among young adult heterosexuals. A subsample of 4,054 participants who reported at least one moderate struggle also exhibited group differences by ethnicity and education. For example, religious and spiritual struggle appeared to increase with higher education, especially at the highest levels of education, but only among Latino and European American participants. These results imply that demographic factors influence religious and spiritual struggles. These effects may differentiate these demographic groups greatly enough to necessitate their independent study. In the future, we encourage researchers to examine the replicability of these group differences, and to always exercise caution when generalizing theoretical conclusions about religion and spirituality across demographic groups.
Religious and spiritual struggles, perceived stress, and religiousnessNick Stauner
(2015, May). Poster presented at the convention of the Association for Psychological Science, New York, NY, and at Case Western Reserve University’s Research ShowCASE, Cleveland, OH.
Religious and spiritual (r/s) struggles arise in many forms and circumstances. The newly developed Religious and Spiritual Struggles (RSS) scale exhibits a coherent, multidimensional structure in these domain-specific problems. It applies to religious and nonreligious people alike. This gives rise to new questions about the nature of r/s struggle. Do religious people struggle less with religion, or more? R/s struggles and overall stress seem likely to correlate, but might they correlate less among more religious people? We tested this moderation hypothesis in a large sample of American undergraduates, who completed the RSS, the Perceived Stress Scale, and measures of religious belief salience and religious participation. A hierarchical regression of factor scores based on a structural equation model of polychoric correlations found positive relationships between stress and all subscales of the RSS. Religiousness also predicted greater demonic, interpersonal, and moral struggle, and predicted less struggle with doubt and ultimate meaning, but did not contribute to prediction of divine struggles or overall struggles independently of stress. No significant interactions manifested between perceived stress and religiousness. This suggests the relationship between recent stress and r/s struggles does not change with religiousness. Overall, r/s struggle may have more to do with stress than religion, as predictive relationships with religiousness only exceeded relationships with stress in the cases of demonic and ultimate meaning struggles. Furthermore, relationships between r/s struggle and stress generally appeared stronger for negatively worded items than for positively worded items on the Perceived Stress Scale. To improve the fit of its measurement model, the positive factor explained covariance among items expressing confidence and control, while the negative factor determined frequency of overwhelmed and dysphoric feelings. These factors correlated fairly strongly, doubled the adjusted R² when entered as independent predictors rather than a single composite, and revealed differences in their relationships with r/s struggles across the RSS subscales. Most notably, the negative factor of the Perceived Stress Scale predicted all struggles better than the positive factor except Demonic struggle. The positive factor achieved predictive significance for all struggles except r/s doubt. This upholds the value of letting stress and resilience vary independently.
Religious and spiritual struggles in relation to stress and religiousnessNick Stauner
(2015, June). Poster presented at the 4th convention of the Association for Research in Personality, St. Louis, MO.
Religious and spiritual struggles arise in various forms and circumstances. The newly developed Religious and Spiritual Struggles (RSS) scale reveals a coherent, multidimensional structure in these domain-specific problems that applies to religious and nonreligious people alike. Thus new questions emerge. Do religious people struggle less with religion, or more? Struggles and stress seem likely to coincide, but might stress give rise to fewer religious struggles among religious people? We tested this moderation hypothesis in a large sample of American undergraduates, who completed the RSS and measures of stressful life events, religious belief salience, and religious participation. A hierarchical regression of factor scores based on a structural equation model of polychoric correlations found support for the hypothesis. Religion and stress related positively to all subscales of the RSS and their overall mean, but a small, negative interaction also manifested, which suggested a weakening relationship between struggles and stress as religiousness increases.
The religious and spiritual struggles of the nonreligious and nonspiritualNick Stauner
(2015, March/August). Presented at the Midyear Research Conference on Religion and Spirituality, Provo, Utah / the convention of the International Association for the Psychology of Religion, Istanbul, Turkey.
Abstract:
Religion and well-being are known to correlate positively in the North American population. Building partly on this premise, recent research has explored the common ground shared by these broad constructs. This work has introduced new hybrid constructs that describe individual differences in, e.g., the quality of relationships with one’s God or religious community, the degree of doubt felt about religious beliefs, or the sense of spiritual transcendence. Meanwhile, the USA’s religiously unaffiliated minority population has grown in size and proportion. To what extent can explicitly religious or spiritual forms of well-being coherently describe people who do not consider themselves religious nor spiritual? Our study focused specifically on a new, multidimensional measure, the Religious and Spiritual Struggles (RSS) scale, which assesses six correlated types of struggle: Divine, Demonic, Interpersonal, Moral, Ultimate Meaning, and Doubt. We measured these struggles, life satisfaction, meaning in life, and the search for meaning in a large sample of American undergraduates. Each participant self-identified as “religious but not spiritual”, “spiritual but not religious”, both, or neither. The RSS achieved strict measurement invariance across these groups, which strongly supports its construct validity regardless of religiousness, spirituality, or the absence of either or both. Group means for all latent factors differed, but in unexpected ways. Spiritual but not religious participants reported the least spiritual struggles of all kinds except Ultimate Meaning. Means for participants who identified as both religious and spiritual did not differ significantly from means for participants who identified as neither religious nor spiritual, despite these groups’ ostensibly opposite perspectives on religion and spirituality. However, these groups contrasted most sharply in terms of how religious and spiritual struggles related to external variables, especially meaning in life, which related more weakly within the nonreligious, nonspiritual group. Religiousness and spirituality independently moderated relationships between well-being and these domain-specific struggles.
A Bifactor Model of the Religious and Spiritual Struggles ScaleNick Stauner
(2015, February). Poster presented at the Psychology of Religion & Spirituality Preconference for the 16th convention of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, Long Beach, CA.
Abstract:
A growing subdomain of psychological research on religion and spirituality examines the causes, consequences, and subjective experience of religious or spiritual struggle. To advance the psychological community’s understanding of religious and spiritual struggles through quantitative empirical research, Exline and colleagues recently developed a modern, multidimensional measure with excellent psychometric qualities, the Religious and Spiritual Struggles (RSS) Scale. This measure includes six correlated but unidimensional subscales pertaining specifically to divine, demonic, interpersonal, moral, ultimate meaning, and doubt struggles. Though a first-order model of these six correlated latent factors fits well in confirmatory factor analysis, this model leaves a little room for improvement. The size of the first eigenvalue suggests a possible bifactor structure, in which all items load together on a general factor as well as on their separate subscale factors. Bifactor analysis also offers information about the validity of unidimensional and multidimensional scoring systems, both of which the RSS facilitates. Using a sample of 2,702 undergraduates from the USA, a confirmatory bifactor analysis of the RSS revealed strong loadings on the general factor for most items and moderate-to-strong loadings on group factors, essentially supporting the comparable validity of both scoring methods. Though this restricted bifactor model worsened model fit very slightly, an alternate bifactor model that allowed group factors to correlate freely offered a small improvement in model fit over the conventional model of six correlated factors. Furthermore, structural equation models that included measures of religious belief salience and religious participation demonstrated strong, positive correlations between these constructs and the general RSS factor. In the conventional six-factor RSS model, religiousness correlates mostly with demonic, moral, and ultimate meaning struggles. Including the general factor in the RSS measurement model improved the independence of the subscale factors from religious belief salience and religious participation, effectively serving to control the RSS subscales’ shared covariance with religiousness. Future use of the RSS in the context of latent factor models may benefit from use of this bifactor measurement model with correlated group factors. It improves model fit, reduces subscale correlations with religiousness, and produces a psychometrically promising general factor that represents the strong covariance between religiousness and decontextualized religious and spiritual struggles.
EAPP 2010 Poster - The Motive Content of Meaningful (and Meaningless) LivesNick Stauner
Stauner, N., & Ozer, D. J. (2010). The motive content of meaningful (and meaningless) lives. Poster presented at the 15th convention of the European Association of Personality Psychology, Brno, Czech Republic.
SPSP 2010 Poster - The Curve of the Quest for a More Meaningful LifeNick Stauner
Stauner, N., Stimson, T. S., & Boudreaux, M. J. (2010). The curve of the quest for a more meaningful life. Poster presented at the 11th convention of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, Las Vegas, NV.
APA 2010 Poster - Factor Structure of the Values Q-SetNick Stauner
Stauner, N., Boudreaux, M. J., & Ozer, D. J. (2010). Factor structure of the Values Q-Set. Poster presented at the 118th convention of the American Psychological Association, San Diego, CA.
SPSP 2011 Poster - Spiritual Predictors of the Search for Meaning in LifeNick Stauner
Stauner, N., & Ozer, D. J. (2011). Spiritual predictors of the search for meaning in life. Poster presented at the 12th convention of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.
WPA 2011 Poster - Joint Factors of Spirituality and ReligiousnessNick Stauner
Stauner, N., & Ozer, D. J. (2011). Joint factors of spirituality and religiousness. Poster presented at the 91st convention of the Western Psychological Association, Los Angeles, CA.
Religious Differences in the Value Systems of Meaningful (and Meaningless) LivesNick Stauner
Stauner, N., Selvam, T., Cheong, R., & Ozer, D. J. (2011). Religious differences in the value systems of meaningful (and meaningless) lives. Poster presented at the 2nd convention of the Association for Research in Personality, Riverside, CA.
Abstract:
Religiousness correlates positively with self-rated meaning in life. Baumeister (1991) claims that because religions provide value systems, people without religion suffer more meaninglessness due to a "value gap." Do people of different religions organize their values differently? Does meaning in life associate with the same values across religions? Meaning correlates with religious values most strongly and positively (Stauner & Ozer, 2010). Is this true among non-religious people? To address such questions, 149 Riverside undergraduates were administered the Meaning in Life Questionnaire and Values Q-Set. Religious participants reported more meaning in life than non-religious participants. Christians valued pleasure less than non-religious participants; otherwise only religious values differed in importance across religions. Meanwhile, differences among religions in the relationships between values and meaning proved more nuanced. Valuing religious observation was more positively related to meaning in life among Christians than non-religious participants, but no differences emerged regarding religious exploration. The negative correlation between meaning and the value of pleasure was also stronger among Christians. Exclusively among participants of other religions, valuing personal skill more and health less was related to higher meaning in life. These results may reflect hidden consequences for existential self-evaluation beneath the apparent invariance of values across religious affiliations.
Stauner, N. (2010). The Values Q-Set. Presented in the Proseminar for Current Research in Personality Psychology, January 21, University of California, Riverside.
2011 Presentation - Current Research in Existential PsychologyNick Stauner
Stauner, N. (2010). Current research in existential psychology. Presented in the Proseminar for Current Research in Personality Psychology, November 4, University of California, Riverside.
Stauner, N., & Ozer, D. J. (2012). Matching goals to values: Correlations follow semantic similarities. Poster presented at the 92nd convention of the Western Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
Executive Directors Chat Leveraging AI for Diversity, Equity, and InclusionTechSoup
Let’s explore the intersection of technology and equity in the final session of our DEI series. Discover how AI tools, like ChatGPT, can be used to support and enhance your nonprofit's DEI initiatives. Participants will gain insights into practical AI applications and get tips for leveraging technology to advance their DEI goals.
How to Add Chatter in the odoo 17 ERP ModuleCeline George
In Odoo, the chatter is like a chat tool that helps you work together on records. You can leave notes and track things, making it easier to talk with your team and partners. Inside chatter, all communication history, activity, and changes will be displayed.
Macroeconomics- Movie Location
This will be used as part of your Personal Professional Portfolio once graded.
Objective:
Prepare a presentation or a paper using research, basic comparative analysis, data organization and application of economic information. You will make an informed assessment of an economic climate outside of the United States to accomplish an entertainment industry objective.
it describes the bony anatomy including the femoral head , acetabulum, labrum . also discusses the capsule , ligaments . muscle that act on the hip joint and the range of motion are outlined. factors affecting hip joint stability and weight transmission through the joint are summarized.
This presentation includes basic of PCOS their pathology and treatment and also Ayurveda correlation of PCOS and Ayurvedic line of treatment mentioned in classics.
Thinking of getting a dog? Be aware that breeds like Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, and German Shepherds can be loyal and dangerous. Proper training and socialization are crucial to preventing aggressive behaviors. Ensure safety by understanding their needs and always supervising interactions. Stay safe, and enjoy your furry friends!
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty, In...Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty,
International FDP on Fundamentals of Research in Social Sciences
at Integral University, Lucknow, 06.06.2024
By Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
A workshop hosted by the South African Journal of Science aimed at postgraduate students and early career researchers with little or no experience in writing and publishing journal articles.
2012 Presentation - Existential and Psychological Health as Products of Intrinsic Goal Attainment
1. Existential and Psychological Health as
Products of Intrinsic Goal Attainment
Nick Stauner
Personality Assessment Lab
University of California, Riverside
1
3. Outline
Intro: existential & psychological well-being (WB)
Hypothesis: goal attainment boosts all kinds of WB
Method: two-part self-report internet survey
Results: multiple regression (IV=attainment; DV=∆WB)
A. Exclusion criteria
B. Main effects of attainment on well-being
C. Other main effects, interactions, and moderators
Recap summary
3
4. Existential well-being
Meaning in life*
• Subjective clarity & significance of one’s own life
1. “I understand my life’s meaning.”
2. “My life has a clear sense of purpose.”
3. “I have a good sense of what makes my life
meaningful.”
4. “I have discovered a satisfying life purpose.”
5. “My life has no clear purpose.”
*Steger, Frazier, Oishi, & Kaler, 2006 4
5. Psychological well-being
Meaning in life*
• Subjective clarity & significance of one’s own life
Psychological well-being (PWB)†
• Multidimensional theory of well-being
1. Environmental mastery 4. Autonomy
2. Self-acceptance 5. Positive relations
3. Purpose 6. Personal growth
*Steger et al., 2006 †Ryff, 1989; Ryff & Keyes, 1995 5
6. Meaning vs. subjective well-being*
• Parenthood paradox†
◦ Decreases positive affect
◦ Changes life’s meaning (?)
*Baumeister, 1991 †Lyubomirsky & Boehm, 2010 6
7. Meaning vs. subjective well-being*
• Parenthood paradox†
◦ Decreases positive affect
◦ Changes life’s meaning (?)
• Guerrilla warfare!
◦ Not the most pleasant
lifestyle one could choose…
◦ Not for the weak of conviction!
*Baumeister, 1991 †Lyubomirsky & Boehm, 2010 7
8. Goals as sources of meaning
“The degree and kind of meaning a person finds in life
derives from the emotionally compelling qualities
of the person’s goal pursuits.”*
“Goals appear to be prime constituents of the
meaning-making process…Goals are an important
source of personal meaning…Goals are used to
construct meaning.Ӡ
*Klinger, 1998 †Emmons, 1999 8
9. Effect of goal attainment on SWB
Attainment increases subjective well-being*
• Predicts concurrent and future changes
• Short and long-term
Progress increases vitality, self-actualization†
• May increase psychological well-being! (p < .10)
*Brunstein, 1993; Sheldon & Kasser, 1998; Sheldon & Elliot, 1999
†Sheldon, Kasser, Smith, & Share, 2002
9
10. Autonomy vs. controlledness*
Self-rated reasons for pursuing a goal
+2 Intrinsic
◦ Fun, enjoyment, and interest in the experience
+1 Identified
◦ Belief in value and importance of the goal
-1 Introjected
◦ “Ought” feeling to avoid shame, guilt, or anxiety
-2 Extrinsic
◦ Reward, praise, or approval from others
Main effect on SWB & attainment interaction
*Sheldon & Kasser, 1995, 1998, 2001; Sheldon, Ryan, Deci, & Kasser, 2004 10
11. Intrinsic vs. extrinsic content*
Goal’s self-rated help toward “possible futures”
Intrinsic
+ Having many close and caring relationships
+ Being fulfilled and having a very meaningful life
+ Helping to make the world a better place
Extrinsic
- Being known and/or admired by many people
- Looking good and appearing attractive to others
- Getting a lucrative job and lots of nice possessions
Main effect on SWB & attainment interaction
*Sheldon & Kasser, 1995, 1998, 2001; Sheldon, Ryan, Deci, & Kasser, 2004 11
12. Depth of meaning*
Ordinal categorization of sources of meaning
1. Hedonistic pleasure & comfort
2. Personal potential, growth, creativity, &
self-actualization
3. Service to others and commitment to a
larger societal or political cause
4. Transcend individuality and encompass
cosmic meaning and ultimate purpose
*Reker & Wong, 1988; Reker, 2000 12
14. Hypotheses
1. Goal attainment boosts psychological well-
being and meaning in life.
2. Effects are stronger from goals that are:
A. Autonomously motivated
◦ More enjoyable, important, & meaningful
◦ Less obligatory or extrinsically rewarded
B. Intrinsically oriented and deeply meaningful
◦ More prosocial & self-transcendent
◦ Less materialistic or self-indulgent
14
15. Subjective Well-Being & Meaning
Positive and Negative Affect Schedule*
• Amount of 20 emotions in past few weeks
◦ E.g., “Strong,” “Afraid,” rated 1 – 5
Satisfaction with Life Scale†
• 5 cognitive evaluations of global life satisfaction
◦ E.g., “I am satisfied with my life,” rated 1 – 7
Meaning in Life Questionnaire‡ – Presence
• 5 cognitive evaluations of global life meaning
◦ E.g., “My life has no clear purpose,” rated 1 – 7
*Watson, Tellegen, & Clark, 1988
†Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985; ‡Steger et al., 2006
15
16. Subjective Well-Being & Meaning
Positive and Negative Affect Schedule*
• Amount of 20 emotions in past few weeks
◦ E.g., “Strong,” “Afraid,” rated 1 – 5
Satisfaction with Life Scale†
• 5 cognitive evaluations of global life satisfaction
◦ E.g., “I am satisfied with my life,” rated 1 – 7
Meaning in Life Questionnaire‡ – Presence
• 5 cognitive evaluations of global life meaning
◦ E.g., “My life has no clear purpose,” rated 1 – 7
*Watson, Tellegen, & Clark, 1988
†Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985; ‡Steger et al., 2006
16
17. Psychological Well-Being*
6 subscales of 9 items each, rated 1 – 6 (forced)
1. Environmental mastery
(-) “I often feel overwhelmed by my responsibilities.”
2. Self-acceptance
(+) “In general, I feel confident and positive about myself.”
3. Purpose
(-) “My daily activities often seem trivial and unimportant to me.”
4. Autonomy
(-) “I tend to be influenced by people with strong opinions.”
5. Positive relations
(+) “I know I can trust my friends, and they know they can trust me.”
6. Personal growth
(-) “I am not interested in activities that will expand my horizons.”
*Springer & Hauser, 2006; Ryff, 1989; Ryff & Keyes, 1995 17
18. Procedure
Time 1: 75-min. survey at quarter’s beginning
• Well-being measured
• Goals listed and rated
• Lots of other personality measures…*
Time 2: 45-min. follow-up at quarter’s end
Well-being measured again
Time 1 goals embedded & rated retrospectively
*Stay tuned for many more results in the future! 18
19. Goal assessment
List 10 goals and why they’re being pursued
• E.g., “Save money for a conference.”
◦ Why? “Because the hotel is expensive!”
“Categorize your goals” task (8 categories)
Goal ratings* (mostly scaled 1 – 4)
Time 1: intrinsic, identified, introjected, extrinsic
pressure, extrinsic reward, etc….
Time 2: progress + success = “attainment”
*List is not comprehensive; excludes those without hypotheses. 19
20. Participants
407 undergraduates at UC Riverside
• Young adults (M = 19.6 | SD = 2.3 | range = {17 – 44} )
• 69% female (282 females, 125 males)
• Ethnically diverse & representative of UCR population
42% East Asian 27% Hispanic or Latino 14% European
6% African 5% Western or South Asian 5% multiracial
• Religion: mostly Christian, unaffiliated, or unknown
51% Christian 22% atheist/agnostic/no affiliation 15% missing
8% Buddhist 2% Muslim 1% Hindu 2% other
• 43% freshmen, 24% sophomores, 24% juniors, 8% seniors, 6 others
• 89% full-timers (Mean credits = 13 | SD = 4)
• 58% single (238 singles | 159 spoken for | 12 it’s-complicateds)
• 29% working: mean hrs. = 15, SD = 9
20
23. Exclusion criteria
Attrition
• 11.5% (47 didn’t return for time 2)
Completion time
• 12.5% (45 excluded)
Inter-item invariance:
• 20% (63 partially excluded)
Applied before performing any other analyses
23
24. Main effects of goal attainment*
Multiple regression to predict well-being change
• Predictors = time 1 well-being & time 2 attainment
• Dependent = time 2 well-being
Subjective well-being (SWB)
SWB = Life Satisfaction + Positive Affect - Negative Affect
Predictor β p
Time 1 SWB .64 < 2 x 10-16
Attainment .17 < .0002
• Successful replication of the goal attainment boost†
*All df = {266 – 276} †Sheldon & Elliot, 1999 24
25. Main effects of goal attainment*
Multiple regression to predict well-being change
• Predictors = time 1 well-being & time 2 attainment
• Dependent = time 2 well-being
Subjective well-being: Attainment β = .17, p < .001
*
*Whitney, 2006 25
26. Main effects of goal attainment*
Multiple regression to predict well-being change
• Predictors = time 1 well-being & time 2 attainment
• Dependent = time 2 well-being
Subjective well-being: Attainment β = .17, p < .001
Psychological well-being (PWB)
Predictor β p
Time 1 PWB .80 < 2 x 10-16
Attainment .10 < .004
*All df = {266 – 276} 26
27. Main effects of goal attainment*
Multiple regression to predict well-being change
• Predictors = time 1 well-being & time 2 attainment
• Dependent = time 2 well-being
Subjective well-being: Attainment β = .17, p < .001
Psychological well-being: Attain. β = .10, p < .004
Meaning in life
Predictor β p
Time 1 Meaning .69 < 2 x 10-16
Attainment .10 < .03
*All df = {266 – 276} 27
28. Main effects of goal attainment*
Multiple regression to predict well-being change
• Predictors = time 1 well-being & time 2 attainment
• Dependent = time 2 well-being
Subjective well-being: Attainment β = .17, p < .001
Psychological well-being: Attain. β = .10, p < .004
Meaning in life: Attainment β = .10, p < .03
Hypothesis 1:
*All df = {266 – 276} 28
36. Well-being composite
Well-being unidimensional at the subscale level
◦ Most subscale correlations > .50 in magnitude
◦ Parallel analysis and scree plot indicate one factor
• Standardized and summed 3 types of well-being:
1. Subjective well-being (SWLS + PA - NA)
2. Psychological well-being (sum of 6 subscales)
3. Presence of meaning in life
• T2 composite well-being from T1 & attainment:
◦ Attainment β = .12, p < .002
• Used in all results presented henceforth
36
37. Moderation by goal content
Self-categorized type* Attainment β p df
1. Health .15 <.001 197
2. Academic .11 <.004 272
3. Social Relationships .10 <.01 269
4. Affect Control .11 <.02 163
5. Organization .13 <.03 99
6. Moral and Religious .06 .21 136
7. Independence .05 .26 186
8. Material Wealth -.03 .57 172
*Objective judge coding in progress for validation purposes. 37
38. Main effects of goal characteristics
Predicting T2 well-being from T1 well-being and…
Extrinsic reward: β = -.09, p < .02
◦ “Are you pursuing this goal because you hope to gain some
material possession or reward (e.g., a car, money, a high-paying
job, a better place to live, etc.), or to avoid losing a material
possession?”
Probability of success: β = .11, p < .02
◦ “What are your chances of succeeding in this goal?”
Importance*: β = .09, p < .05
◦ “Do you pursue this goal because you really believe it’s an
important goal to have?”
Investment*: β = .09, p < .05
◦ “How willing are you to invest time, money, or effort to achieve
this goal?”
*Distributions of importance & investment are negatively skewed. 38
39. Effect of self-rated goal importance on well-being change
Change in well-being
Importance (β = .09, p = .04, n = 183) 39
40. Effect of self-rated goal investment on well-being change
Change in well-being
Investment (β = .09, p = .04, n = 202) 40
41. Main effect of time frame
β = .08, p < .03
• “What is your time frame for accomplishing this goal?”
5 4 3 2 1
Enduring life goal Next few Next few Short term Day-to-day
or guiding value years months goal
(e.g., “make the (more than 1 (less than 1 (less than 1 (e.g., “take out
most of life”) year) year) month) the trash”)
Interpret cautiously
• Some extreme goals may fit both extremes!
41
42. Interactions with goal characteristics*
Extrinsic pressure x attainment: β = -.09, p < .05
• “Do you pursue this goal because someone else
wants you to, or because the situation demands it?”
*All df = {183 – 265} 42
43. Standardized effects of goal attainment & extrinsic motivation on well-being change
Change in well-being
Attainment (df = 183)
43
44. Standardized effects of goal attainment & extrinsic motivation on well-being change
Change in well-being
Attainment (df = 183)
44
45. Standardized effects of goal attainment & extrinsic motivation on well-being change
Change in well-being
Attainment (df = 183)
45
46. Interactions with goal characteristics*
Extrinsic pressure x attainment: β = -.09, p < .05
• “Do you pursue this goal because someone else
wants you to, or because the situation demands it?”
Intrinsic x attainment: β = -.06, p < .06
• “Do you pursue this goal for the fun and enjoyment
that it provides you?”
*All df = {183 – 265} 46
47. Standardized effects of goal attainment & intrinsic motivation on well-being change
Change in well-being
Attainment (df = 265)
47
48. Standardized effects of goal attainment & intrinsic motivation on well-being change
Change in well-being
Attainment (df = 265)
48
49. Standardized effects of goal attainment & intrinsic motivation on well-being change
Change in well-being
Attainment (df = 265)
49
50. Interactions with goal characteristics*
Extrinsic pressure x attainment: β = -.09, p < .05
• “Do you pursue this goal because someone else
wants you to, or because the situation demands it?”
Intrinsic x attainment: β = -.06, p < .06
• “Do you pursue this goal for the fun and enjoyment
that it provides you?”
Attainability x attainment: β = -.07, p < .05
• “What are your chances of succeeding in this goal?”
*All df = {183 – 265} 50
51. Standardized effects of goal attainment & attainability on well-being change
Change in well-being
Attainment (df = 220)
51
52. Standardized effects of goal attainment & attainability on well-being change
Change in well-being
Attainment (df = 220)
52
53. Standardized effects of goal attainment & attainability on well-being change
Change in well-being
Attainment (df = 220)
53
54. Conclusions
Goal attainment boosts meaning & PWB
• Hypothesis 1 confirmed!
Goal attainment effect on well-being is
moderated by goal content and motivation
• Hypothesis 2 partially supported
54
55. Theoretical implications
The goal attainment process builds and links
positive, existential, and motive psychology
Mixed evidence for/against moderator theories
• Autonomy/controlledness of motivation*
• Intrinsic/extrinsic goal orientation*
• Depth of meaning†
*Sheldon & Kasser, 1995, 1998, 2001; Sheldon, Ryan, Deci, & Kasser, 2004
†Reker & Wong, 1988; Reker, 2000
55
56. Limitations & recommendations
Limitations
• Short time span
• Difficulty distinguishing existential from affective well-being
• Subjectivity of goal ratings & categorizations
• N too small to split by goal content or religious affiliations
Recommendations
• Experimental goal interventions* to reinforce causal claims
• Behavioral logs & health outcomes to assess effect
objectively
*E.g., Sheldon, Kasser, Smith, & Share, 2002 56
58. Planned analyses
Objective criteria of goal categories, depth of meaning, value
concordance, coherence & conflict
Attainment interactions with goal content & personality traits
Exploration of quadratic effects
Multilevel modeling of differences among goals
• Meaning, attainment, & self-determination at the goal level
• Person-level differences in ratings as dependent variable
58
59. Meaning vs. PWB-Purpose
1. I understand my life’s meaning
2. My life has a clear sense of purpose
3. I have a good sense of what makes my
life meaningful
4. I have discovered a satisfying life
purpose
5. My life has no clear purpose
59
60. Meaning vs. PWB-Purpose
1. I enjoy making plans for the future and working to make them a reality
2. My daily activities often seem trivial and unimportant to me
3. I am an active person in carrying out the plans I set for myself
4. I tend to focus on the present, because the future nearly always brings
me problems
5. I don’t have a good sense of what it is I am trying to accomplish in life
6. I sometimes feel as if I’ve done all there is to do in life
7. I used to set goals for myself, but that now seems like a waste of time
8. Some people wander aimlessly through life but I am not one of them
9. I live life one day at a time and don’t really think about the future
60
Editor's Notes
Going to be a data-driven talk
As with just about anything I research these days, I’ll begin with the meaning in life construct.Meaning in life can be a little hard to define.One way to define meaning is to let the participant do it, as these items do.In fact, the existentialist argument is that this is the only authentic way to approach the matter: subjectively.Participants rate these items, I sum their ratings, and that’s my measure, but I’m really just summarizing what they’ve told me about themselves.Likehappiness, no one can really tell you how meaningful your life is; it’s a psychological state of being you define by your own standards.Like a trait, it’s stable across time, and predictive of health consequences. A deeper sense of meaning leads to… Lowered depression, anxiety, drug abuse, suicidality Higher happiness, life satisfaction, self-esteem, optimismRegardless of how subjective these meaning ratings may be, they’re clearly not trivial.
PWB refers to a theory of the structure of well-being above and beyond happinessOnly environmental mastery and self-acceptance relate strongly to happiness and life satisfactionThe other four dimensions are less commonly assessed elements of well-being, but elements nonetheless. Ryff bases this theory on Maslow, Rogers, Jung, Allport, Erikson, Buhler, & Neugarten, so she’s done her homework.Aside from the theories of a bunch of dead white guys, there are other reasons to think these different kinds of well-being might be important…
For instance, parents often think their children make their lives happier…But in fact, frequency of positive affect decreases after childbirth.Positive affect is even rated relatively low when with childrenPerhaps the kind of happiness parents feel they’re gaining is different from the kind we usually measure.
For another example ofhow meaning might separate from happiness,Baumeister suggests we consider the life of the guerrilla.Guerrilla fighters definitely don’t have the happiest lives, but they definitely have to believe in what they’re doing to get it done right.Those in the room with kids may see other similarities here.Since meaning may be different from well-being, and since it is definitely important,I chose to set my dissertation sights on finding a way to improve meaning…
Fortunately, my reading for quals seemed to suggestthat goals are the way to go.Here are some quotes emphasizing the causal connections from goals to meaning, at least in theory.
Another reason to look at goals is that they improve happiness, which is related to meaning.A series of studes have shown thisConcurrently and prospectivelyAcross a week and across a semesterMay also increase other aspects of well-beingIncluding psychological well-being as a wholeThese studies also suggest a number of moderators for these effects of goal attainment…
One such moderator is the reason for pursuing a given goal,Whether by personal choice or…not so much. (May have heard of this as self-determination, self-concordance, perceived locus of causality, or organismic congruence)Basically, the autonomous reasons are fun, interest, or personal valuesControlled reasons include to avoid feeling like a bad person, or to get something from someone else.Main effect & interaction!
Another moderator is in the content of the goals themselves. (Also referred to as intrinsic orientation and vertical intrinsiccoherence)Basically a theory of which goals are directly rewarding and which are more indirect.The directly rewarding or “intrinsic futures” are emotional intimacy, personal growth, & community contributionThe indirectly rewarding or “extrinsic futures” are fame/popularity, attractive image, & financial successMain effect & interaction!!
There’s a similar theory about sources of meaning, which are similar to values.Values are somewhat similar to goals, especially when we compare similar themes like religious goals and religious values.So I thought I’d test this theory too, since these themes are just as easily applied to goals as to values or sources of meaning.
Here’s a summary of my hypotheses.Once again, here are some of the goal attainment theorists that have my back on this… Just so YOU know that I know what I’m talking about. I read Larry’s autobiography, and he says the phrase changed his life, so there you go… Might as well call this one proven already!
Also, to test the other theories I’ve been talking about so far, I’ll consider these moderators.
Purpose itemsfocus on the kind of concrete life experiences a person with or without meaning in life might relate toRather than the global sense of meaning as evaluated subjectively
Categories are mostly self-explanatory, so I’ll present them with their results.
Pretty representative of the UCR subject pool (27% of those working were also full-time students)
($50K was an unfortunate choice for lower bound in my questionnaire design) (Turns out that’s the median income in America.)
Here’s how that compares to the national census data from the previous year. Only captured the variation within this box Butat least the data I got is about what I’d expect from a representative sample.
A number of people just blazed through in really unreasonable amounts of time, so I cut them out. Anyone mind if I skip the details of the cutoffs I used? (Expected time: time 1 = 75 min.; time 2 = 45 min.) (Too short: time 1 < 20 min. or time 2 < 10 min.) (Too long > 48 hrs. (disrupts measurement context))Data excluded by measure when variance = zeroOnly applied to measures with 10+ items2+ subscales in each; reverse-scored items in most (Range per measure = {0 – 18} (excluding I/E-R))Really no excuse for giving the exact same answer to that many different questionsUnless participants were just gaming the system by getting one of these drinking birds to do their work for them.
…so in conclusion…
Larry’s strategy works!He’s living proof himself!
Even the guerrillas get a boost in the end.And yes, that’s one myth confirmed.
Skip? Green are over |.5|; red are under |.3| Negative affect Subscales of psychological well-being Ryff & Keyes say are typically less related
Skip? Picture looks a little better at Time 2
Parallel analysis
Skip? All loadings on first rotatedfactor ≥ |.50| (Negative affect the lowest)
Skip? All loadings on first rotatedfactor ≥ |.47| (Negative affect the lowest)
One significant difference: material goals are clearly not as beneficial as others. That fits my moderation hypothesisAlso some support for prosocial and personal growth as relatively more beneficial the academic and social relationships goals fit that profileHowever, academic goals may include more extrinsic goals Social may include more hedonistic goalsAffect Control goals might be considered hedonistic, but they seem helpful hereIndependence goals might be considered personal growth-oriented, but they seem relatively unhelpfulMoral and Religious are theoretically most self-transcendent (though there’s room for debate there)Mixed support at best.
Also, the beta for this effect was only .02 in the full sample without applying all my exclusion criteria βGoing to skip interpretation of this effect until I can get it to replicate.
Again, going to skip interpretation of this effect until I can get it to replicate.
This scale’s ends may loop around on itselfKind of like communism and fascism on the political spectrum of left-vs.-right.Some recurring daily goals may be lifestyle valuesE.g., “Stay organized,” “pray for peace,” “relax,” etc.Fortunately, my lab’s goal taxonomy may permit validation analyses* Objective judge coding in progress!
Thisinteraction had almost zero effect in the full sample without using my exclusion criteria (p value = . 98)
In the absence of extrinsic pressure, this effect really seems to jump out.Goals that people pursue for their own reasons, whatever they are, really do seem to affect well-being.
With more extrinsic pressure, the well-being boost from attainment practically disappears.
Extrinsic works as predicted by itself…Intrinsic doesn’t go the way it’s supposed to.
Extrinsic works as predicted by itself…Intrinsic doesn’t go the way it’s supposed to.
Hypothesis 1 confirmedAlthough it’s a little inconclusive with PWB’s subscales for autonomy & purpose(Also, main effects of extrinsic reward, attainability)Hypothesis 2: basic principle supportedModeration by goal content+ Health, Academic, Social Relationships, Affect Control, Organizationns Material WealthModeration by underlying motivationExtrinsic motives nullify the goal attainment boostJust not in the direction they all said it would go…(Also, attainable goals also nullify the attainment boost, but provide their own main effect boost)
Demonstrates the relevance of goals to psychologicalhealth While suggesting that not all goals are equally healthy Particularly echoes mounting concerns about the detrimental effects of materialism and extrinsic motivesSupports the theory that goals are sources of meaningSupports the “A” (for attainable) in S.M.A.R.T. goal setting strategyProvides a number of replications Significance attained for overall PWB4 Replicated main effect of attainability1 Has failed to replicate before Effort interaction failed to replicate3Mixed evidence for autonomy/controlledness√ Extrinsic motives only seem to offer extrinsic benefits, if any at least in the short termØ Results of intrinsic motivation contradict theory Might be a fluke? Maybe UCR psych students spend too much time having fun already? Maybe driven by greater costs of failure to attain goals that aren’t just for funMixed evidence for theories about the content of goals and sources of meaning√ Personal growth & prosocial goals yield well-being boosts when they are attained√ extrinsic goals are just bad news in general.Ø Moral and religious goal attainment less beneficial? Religiousness is related to well-being in America Religious goals may be effects of religion, not necessarily causes of well-being
LimitationsOnly one quarterI still got my effect! But would it last? The effect on SWB has been shown to last, but I haven’t demonstrated that with meaning or PWBMore effects might emerge over a longer time Then again, effects might also be obscured by other life influences over longer periodsHard to distinguish between existential well-being and affective well-beingCorrelation was a little strong in this sampleParticipants’ goal ratings and categorizations may not be very accurateMany causes for concern about bias given population & method but I have some plans for getting around this I could talk about after I’m done.Need more to test across goal content & religious affiliationsGreat taxonomy for comparing goals, but some types are very rare, so subsamples are too smallSame problem with religious affiliations: diverse sample, but some affiliations are too rare for comparisons There’s reason to think religious affiliation could make a difference I’ve found that links between meaning and values are moderated by religionRecommendationsWould help establish causality if experimental interventions that boost goal attainment indirectly benefit well-beingWould be good to gather more objective evidence of well-being increasing through goal attainment Objective measures of attainment could include behavioral logs or setting milestones for achievement On the well-being side, plenty of health outcomes could be tracked Might need a little grant money for thatFinally, just a general recommendation for anyone who has a goal…
Other theories about good and bad goals I haven’t tested yet but can value concordance and goal coherence vs. conflictSome reason to think certain goals will be more impactful for certain personalitiesAssertion goals for introvertsReligious goals for religious peopleSocial relationship goals for people who value friendship & loveCan test dependent variables at the goal level using multilevel modelingMeaning, attainment, & self-determinationAre religious goals as attainable? How extrinsic are academic goals?Interesting questions about person-level differences that need to be separated from goal-level differencesWho has all the fun goals?How much of that variation is just due to response bias?
Defined at the level of global life evaluationCompletely subjective
More focus on concrete plans and activities, and future orientationNot necessarily how everyone would experience meaning in lifeBut it’s definitely a more concrete concept than the subjective sense of meaning in life.