Building on Viktor Frankl's clinical approach of Logotherapy and the works of subsequent theoreticians, three types of meaning of life were theoretically derived and empirically investigated, Ultimate, Provisional, and Personal meaning. These types were characterized, first, by the amount of agreement of subjects, second, by sources of Life Meaning, which were assessed by content analyses, third, by correlations, and fourth by prediction with ratings of important life concepts from the domains of Well-being, Religiosity, and Prosocial Behavior. 192 German adults, 45 men and 147 women, whose M age was 31.6 yr. (SD = 11.9), participated. Analysis indicated different sources for the Ultimate meaning compared with the other meaning types, which seem to display more similarities with each other. Other important life concepts, such as Belief, Harmony, Happiness, and Human Goodness were related to the investigated types of meaning of life. Some implications for clinical applications, research perspectives, and Positive Psychology are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdlerA. (1931/1992) Wozu leben wir [What do we live for?]. Frankfurt/M.: Fischer.
2.
AuhagenA. E. (2000) On the psychology of meaning of life. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 59, 34–48.
3.
AuhagenA. E. (2004a) Mitmenschliche Güte [Human goodness]. In AuhagenA. E. (Ed.), Positive Psychologie. Anleitung zum, “besseren” Leben [Positive psychology: instructions for “better” living]. Weinheim: Beltz PVU. Pp. 154–170.
4.
AuhagenA. E. (2004b) Positive Psychologie. Anleitung zum, “besseren” Leben [Positive psychology: instructions for “better” living]. Weinheim: Beltz PVU.
5.
AuhagenA. E. (submitted) The Action-Invitation-Diary-Method for social everyday action.
6.
BaumeisterR. F. (1991) Meanings of life. New York: Guilford.
7.
BlameyR.BraithwaiteV. (1997) The validity of the Security-Harmony Social Values Model in the general population. Australian Journal of Psychology, 49, 71–77.
8.
BrauersJ. (1998) Weltformel Harmonie. Universales Fortschrittsprinzip und Lebenssinn [World formula harmony: universal principle of progress and meaning of life]. Baden-Baden: Baden-Badener Verlag.
9.
ChamberlainK.ZikaS. (1988) Measuring meaning in life: an examination of three scales. Journal of Individual Differences, 9, 589–596.
10.
CrumbaughJ. C.HenrionR. (2001) How to find meaning and purpose in life for the third millennium. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 24, 1–9.
11.
DalbertC. (1996) Über den Urngang mit Ungerechtigkeit: Eine psypchologische Analyse [About dealing with injustice: a psychological analysis]. Bern: Huber.
12.
DalbertC. (1999) The world is more just for me than generally: about the Personal Belief in a Just World Scale's validity. Social Justice Research, 12, 79–98.
13.
D'BraunsteinS.EbersoleP. (1992) Categories of life meaning for service organization volunteers. Psychological Reports, 70, 281–282.
14.
De VoglerK. L.EbersoleP. (1981) Adults' meaning in life. Psychological Reports, 49, 87–90.
15.
De VoglerK. L.EbersoleP. (1983) Young adolescents' meaning in life. Psychological Reports, 52, 427–431.
16.
DienerE.SuhE.LucasR. E.SmithH. (1999) Subjective well-being: three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276–302.
17.
EbersoleP. (1998) Types of depth of written life meaning. In WongP. T. P.FryP. S. (Eds.), The human quest for meaning: a handbook of psychological research and clinical applications. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 179–191.
18.
EbersoleP.de PaolaS. (1987) Meaning in life categories of later life couples. Journal of Psychology, 123, 171–178.
19.
EdwardsM. J.HoldenR. R. (2003) Coping, meaning in life, and suicidal manifestations: examining gender differences. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 59, 1133–1150.
20.
FabryJ. (1998) The calls of meaning. In WongP. T. P.FryP. S. (Eds.), The human quest for meaning: a handbook of psychological research and clinical applications. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 295–305.
21.
FarranC. J.KuhnD. R. (1998) Finding meaning through caring for persons with Alzheimer's disease: assessment and intervention. In WongP. T. P.FryP. S. (Eds.), The human quest for meaning: a handbook of psychological research and clinical applications. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 332–359.
22.
FranklV. E. (1979/1995) Der Mensch vor der Frage nach Sinn [Man's search for meaning]. München: Piper.
23.
FranklV. E. (1987) Logotherapie und Existenzanalyse [Logotherapy and existential analysis]. München: Piper.
24.
FrühW. (1981) Inhaltsanalyse: Theorie und Praxis [Content analysis: theory and practice]. München: Ölschläger.
25.
HutzellR. R. (1983) Practical steps in logoanalysis. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 6, 74–83.
26.
KorotkovD. (1998) The sense of coherence: making sense out of chaos. In WongP. T. P.FryP. S. (Eds.), The human quest for meaning: a handbook of psychological research and clinical applications. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 51–70.
27.
MayringP. (2002) Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse [Qualitative content analysis]. Weinheim: Beltz PVU.
28.
O'ConnorK.ChamberlainK. (1996) Dimensions of meaning of life meaning: a qualitative investigation at mid-life. British Journal of Psychology, 87, 461–477.
29.
RekerG. T.WongP. T. P. (1988) Aging as an individual process: toward a theory of personal meaning. In BirrenJ. E.BengtsonL. (Eds.), Emergent theories of aging. New York: Springer. Pp. 214–246.
30.
RyffC. D.SingerB. (1998) The role of purpose in life and personal growth in positive human health. In WongP. T. P.FryP. S. (Eds.), The human quest for meaning: a handbook of psychological research and clinical applications. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 213–235.
31.
SchulenbergS. E. (2003) Empirical research and logotherapy. Psychological Reports, 93, 307–319.
32.
SnyderC. R.LopezS. J. (Eds.) (2002) Handbook of positive psychology. Oxford, UK: Oxford Univer. Press.
33.
TauschR. (2004) Sinn in unserem Leben [Meaning in our lives]. In AuhagenA. E. (Ed.), Positive Psychologie. Anleitung zum “besseren” Leben [Positive psychology: instructions for “better living]. Weinheim: Beltz PVU. Pp. 86–102.
34.
TaylorS. J.EbersoleP. (1993) Young children's meaning in life. Psychological Reports, 73, 1099–1104.
35.
UtschM. (2004) Religiosität und Spiritualität [Religiosity and spirituality]. In AuhagenA. E. (Ed.), Positive Psychologie. Anleitung zum “besseren” Leben [Positive psychology: instructions for “better living]. Weinheim: Beltz PVU. Pp. 67–85.
36.
WawrytkoS. A. (1989) The meaning of the moment. The logotherapeutic dimension of every-dayness. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 12, 117–123.
37.
WongP. T. P. (1998a) Implicit theories of meaningful life and the development of the personal meaning profile. In WongP. T. P.FryP. S. (Eds.), The human quest for meaning: a handbook of psychological research and clinical applications. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 111–140.
38.
WongP. T. P. (1998b) Meaning-centered counseling. In WongP. T. P.FryP. S. (Eds.), The human quest for meaning: a handbook of psychological research and clinical applications. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 395–435.
39.
WongP. T. P. (1998c) Spirituality, meaning, and successful aging Wong. In WongP. T. P.FryP. S. (Eds.), The human quest for meaning: a handbook of psychological research and clinical applications. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 359–394.
40.
WongP. T. P.FryP. S. (Eds.) (1998) The human quest for meaning: a handbook of psychological research and clinical applications. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
41.
YalomI. (1980) Existential psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books.
