Understanding the Search for Meaning in Life: Personality, Cognitive Style, and the Dynamic Between Seeking and Experiencing Meaning

TLDR

Empirical research on the search for meaning in life is sparse, despite theories emphasizing its importance. The authors conduct three studies to comprehensively examine correlates of the search for meaning. The studies assess how search for meaning relates to well‑being, cognitive style, and personality traits, and test conceptual models linking search to the presence of meaning. Results show that people lacking meaning search for it, but this search does not lead to meaning; basic personality motives moderate the search–presence relationship, underscoring the role of personality dispositions.

Abstract

Although several theories assert that understanding the search for meaning in life is important, empirical research on this construct is sparse. Three studies provide the first extensive effort to understand the correlates of the search for meaning in a multistudy research program. Assessed were relations between search for meaning and well-being, cognitive style, and the Big Five, Big Three, Approach/Avoidance, and Interest models of personality, with a particular emphasis on understanding the correlates of search for meaning that are independent of presence of meaning. Conceptual models of the relation between search and presence were tested. Findings suggest that people lacking meaning search for it; the search for meaning did not appear to lead to its presence. Study 3 found that basic motive dispositions moderated relations between search for meaning and its presence. Results highlight the importance of basic personality dispositions in understanding the search for meaning and its correlates.