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/73d893a0ecc84db7b182c681f908005d
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:73d893a0ecc84db7b182c681f908005d2021-12-02T20:16:34ZSearching for meaning is associated with costly prosociality.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0258769https://doaj.org/article/73d893a0ecc84db7b182c681f908005d2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258769https://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, p e0258769 (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/73d893a0ecc84db7b182c681f908005d
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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