Searching for meaning is associated with costly prosociality

The study of meaning in life has largely centered on its relationship with personal well-being, while a focus on how meaning is related to enhancing the well-being of others has received less research attention. Although searching for meaning may imply lower personal well-being, we find that meaning...

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Autores principales:	Brodie C. Dakin, Simon M. Laham, Nicholas Poh-Jie Tan, Brock Bastian
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/47857e028c784ba7b58a6cadcda6d016
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:47857e028c784ba7b58a6cadcda6d016
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:47857e028c784ba7b58a6cadcda6d0162021-11-04T06:09:17ZSearching for meaning is associated with costly prosociality1932-6203https://doaj.org/article/47857e028c784ba7b58a6cadcda6d0162021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8544877/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203The study of meaning in life has largely centered on its relationship with personal well-being, while a focus on how meaning is related to enhancing the well-being of others has received less research attention. Although searching for meaning may imply lower personal well-being, we find that meaning-seekers are more motivated to perform costly prosocial actions for the sake of others’ well-being, given the perceived meaningfulness of these behaviors. Studies 1–4 (N = 780) show that meaning-seeking correlates with the motivation to engage in a range of costly prosocial behaviors. Meaning-seeking is further shown to be distinct from pursuing happiness in its relationship with costly prosociality (Study 2 & 3) and to share a stronger association with high-cost than low-cost prosociality (Study 3 & 4). Study 5 (N = 370; pre-registered) further shows that the search for meaning is related to costly prosocial behavior in the recent past. While our studies are cross-sectional, the pattern of findings suggests that seeking meaning (rather than happiness) may play an important role in motivating altruistic tendencies.Brodie C. DakinSimon M. LahamNicholas Poh-Jie TanBrock BastianPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Brodie C. Dakin Simon M. Laham Nicholas Poh-Jie Tan Brock Bastian Searching for meaning is associated with costly prosociality
description	The study of meaning in life has largely centered on its relationship with personal well-being, while a focus on how meaning is related to enhancing the well-being of others has received less research attention. Although searching for meaning may imply lower personal well-being, we find that meaning-seekers are more motivated to perform costly prosocial actions for the sake of others’ well-being, given the perceived meaningfulness of these behaviors. Studies 1–4 (N = 780) show that meaning-seeking correlates with the motivation to engage in a range of costly prosocial behaviors. Meaning-seeking is further shown to be distinct from pursuing happiness in its relationship with costly prosociality (Study 2 & 3) and to share a stronger association with high-cost than low-cost prosociality (Study 3 & 4). Study 5 (N = 370; pre-registered) further shows that the search for meaning is related to costly prosocial behavior in the recent past. While our studies are cross-sectional, the pattern of findings suggests that seeking meaning (rather than happiness) may play an important role in motivating altruistic tendencies.
format	article
author	Brodie C. Dakin Simon M. Laham Nicholas Poh-Jie Tan Brock Bastian
author_facet	Brodie C. Dakin Simon M. Laham Nicholas Poh-Jie Tan Brock Bastian
author_sort	Brodie C. Dakin
title	Searching for meaning is associated with costly prosociality
title_short	Searching for meaning is associated with costly prosociality
title_full	Searching for meaning is associated with costly prosociality
title_fullStr	Searching for meaning is associated with costly prosociality
title_full_unstemmed	Searching for meaning is associated with costly prosociality
title_sort	searching for meaning is associated with costly prosociality
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/47857e028c784ba7b58a6cadcda6d016
work_keys_str_mv	AT brodiecdakin searchingformeaningisassociatedwithcostlyprosociality AT simonmlaham searchingformeaningisassociatedwithcostlyprosociality AT nicholaspohjietan searchingformeaningisassociatedwithcostlyprosociality AT brockbastian searchingformeaningisassociatedwithcostlyprosociality
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Searching for meaning is associated with costly prosociality

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