The Science of purpose & meaning
A growing body of knowledge reveals the significant impact that purpose and meaning have on our lives.
Scientific research on meaning and purpose intersect the mental and the physical, the mind-body duality, and points to the synergy of thought and action, being and doing.
This appreciation of the deep connection of the mind and body is still an emerging area of scientific and academic research.
Though the wisdom traditions had an intuitive sense of the relationship, they didn’t understand precisely why and how the two influence each other.
Modern science is methodically revealing the deeper truths that the ancients knew — the relationship between what we think and feel has profound influence on our physical and mental health.
Well-being characterized by the mind-body connection
The science of meaning and purpose is broad and varied. What you will find here is a synopsis of the research that Greater Meaning believes is particularly relevant to understanding the impact of meaning-making and purpose in life on your overall physical and mental health. We include links to publications should you wish to delve deeper into the findings.
If there was any doubt that motivation and intention were separate from physical processes, scientific research has shown that the two domains are intricately connected. Thoughts have tremendous influence on our bodies and the two together frame our general state of well-being.
Research publications organized in four categories:
Research on Meaning & Purpose contains published academic research that is general and foundational to understanding the role of meaning and purpose in human flourishing
Research on Mind, Meaning & Purpose references studies focused on psychology and being, including personality and character, and the positive effects of living a more meaningful and purposeful life
Research on Body, Meaning & Purpose cites studies that show the relationship between having meaning and purpose in life with physical health, including longevity
Research on “The Self” references studies and articles that are more existential in nature, concerning consciousness and identity in relation to meaning and purpose
1. Research on Meaning & Purpose
Foundational Topics of Meaning & Purpose
Title: “Why Meaning in Life Matters for Societal Flourishing”
Why it matters: Meaning has important social and economic implications, particularly when societies are facing major existential threats, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
Key points:
Meaning in life reflects the feeling that one's existence has significance, purpose, and coherence.
Meaning in life is a fundamental human need that strongly influences both psychological and physical well-being.
Individuals who perceive their lives as full of meaning live longer, healthier, and happier lives.
Key take-away: Meaning functions as a self-regulatory and motivational psychological resource that orients people toward the types of thinking and behaviors that build and sustain healthy communities and societies.
Authors: Clay Routledge and Taylor A. FioRito
Source: Front Psychology, 2021
Title: “Origins of Purpose in Life: Refining our Understanding of a Life Well Lived”
Why it matters: Outlines a model of purpose development and describes pathways towards creating purpose in life.
Key points:
Purpose can be characterized as a central, self-organizing life aim.
Purpose is a predominant theme of a person’s identity.
Purpose generates continual goals and targets for efforts to be devoted towards.
Purpose provides a bedrock foundation that allows a person to be more resilient to obstacles, stress, and strain.
Key take-away: Three primary ways to find purpose in life:
Personal effort resulting in a purpose after investigation, reflection, refinement, and clarification.
Reaction to a transformative life event where a purpose arises and adds clarity to a person's life.
Social learning that involves the formation of purpose through observation, imitation, and modeling (e.g. by joining groups or movements).
Authors: Todd B. Kashdan and Patrick E. McKnight, George Mason University.
Source: Psychological Topics, 2009
Title: “Purpose in Life as a System That Creates and Sustains Health and Well-Being: An Integrative, Testable Theory”
Why it matters: Purpose in life is a testable, process that can be shown to be a cause of positive life outcomes.
Key points:
Purpose is a mental process that defines life goals and provides personal meaning.
Making progress toward life goals provides a significant, renewable source of engagement and meaning in life.
Purpose influences life expectancy, life satisfaction, and mental and physical health.
Key take-away: Purpose on its own, without other intervening factors, produces a variety of positive physical and emotional outcomes.
Authors: Patrick E. McKnight and Todd B. Kashdan, George Mason University
Source: Review of General Psychology, 2009
Title: “Psychological well-being revisited: advances in the science and practice of eudaimonia”
Why it matters: Adults are striving, meaning-making, proactive organisms who are actively negotiating the challenges of life in order to achieve psychological well-being, what the ancient Greeks referred to as eudaemonia.
Key points:
Psychological well-being reduces risk for disease and promoting length of life.
There are six areas of research indicative of attaining well-being in life, including purpose in life.
Purpose in life, personal talents, and self-knowledge affect well-being and health.
Key take-a-way: Resilience, which is the capacity to maintain or regain well-being in the face of adversity, is key to realizing well-being.
Author: Carol D Ryff, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Source: Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 2014
Title: Purposeful Engagement, Healthy Aging, and the Brain
Overview: This study looks at the philosophical and conceptual foundations of living a purposeful life and the effects on the aged in experiencing better health and longer life.
Authors: Carol D. Ryff, Aaron S. Heller, Stacey M. Schaefer, Carien van Reekum, and Richard J. Davidson
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports, 2016
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5438094/
Abstract (edited)
Purpose of Review: Research on psychological well-being in later life has identified strengths and vulnerabilities that occur with aging. We review the conceptual and philosophical foundations of a eudaimonic model of well-being and its empirical translation into six key dimensions of positive functioning. We also consider its implications for health, broadly defined.
Summary: Eudaimonic well-being predicts better health and longer lives, and thus constitutes an important direction for future research and practice. Intervention studies designed to promote well-being, including among those suffering from psychological disorders, are briefly described.
Title: “On the promotion of human flourishing”
Why it matters: Human flourishing (eudaimonia) consists of a broad range of states and outcomes. The determinants of human flourishing are identified and pathways for future research identified.
Key take-away: In addition to meaning and purpose, other determinants of well-being include mental and physical health, happiness and life satisfaction, character and virtue, and close social relationships.
Author: Tyler J. VanderWeele, Harvard
Edited by: Kenneth W. Wachter, University of California, Berkeley
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017
2. Research on Mind, Meaning & Purpose
Research on psychological impacts of meaning and purpose
Title: “Meaning in Life and Self-Control Buffer Stress in Times of COVID-19: Moderating and Mediating Effects With Regard to Mental Distress”
Why it matters: Meaning in life and self-control are ways to cope with mental distress during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Key take-aways:
In times of crisis, meaning in life has been shown to be a crucial factor for resilience and coping.
When COVID-19 stress is high, the presence of meaningfulness and self-control accounts for lower general mental distress.
People who suffered significant stress during the pandemic were more likely to develop a crisis of meaning.
A crisis in meaning can be boosted by keeping higher-order goals (purpose) present in life.
Authors: Tatjana Schnell and Henning Krampe
Source: Front Psychology, 2020
Title: “Meaning in life and risk of cognitive impairment: A 9-Year prospective study in 14 countries”
Why it matters: Identifies lower meaning in life as a risk factor in cognitive impairment (dementia). study looks at the impact of purpose on general mental ability.
Key take-away: Meaning may be a potential target of intervention for healthier cognitive aging.
Authors: Angelina R Sutin, Martina Luchetti, Yannick Stephan, Antonio Terracciano
Source: Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 2020
3. Research on Body, Meaning & Purpose
Research on the physical impacts of meaning and purpose
Title: “Purpose in Life and Its Relationship to All-Cause Mortality and Cardiovascular Events: A Meta-Analysis”
Why it matters: This study finds that purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk of death from all causes.
Key take-away: Possessing a high sense of purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events.
Authors: Randy Cohen, MD, MS, Chirag Bavishi, MD, MPH, and Alan Rozanski, MD
Source: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, 2016
Title: “A functional genomic perspective on human well-being”
Why it matters: This study examines how meaning-making and purpose have a positive effect on the behaviour of genes.
Key take-away: Hedonic (pleasure) and eudaimonic (flourishing) well-being engage distinct gene regulatory programs despite their similar effects on total well-being and depressive symptoms. This implies that the human genome may be more sensitive to qualitative variations in well-being than conscious affective (emotional) experiences.
Authors: Barbara L. Fredrickson, Karen M. Grewen, Kimberly A. Coffey, Sara B. Algoe, Ann M. Firestine, Jesusa M. G. Arevalo, Jeffrey Ma, and Steven W. Cole
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2013
Title: “Sense of Life Worth Living (Ikigai) and Mortality in Japan: Ohsaki Study”
Why it matters: This study examined purpose in life in Japan (Ikigai, “A life worth living”) and mortality.
Key take-away: Subjects who did not find a sense of ikigai were associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality attributable to cardiovascular disease and external causes, but not cancer
Authors: Sone, Toshimasa OTR, BA; Nakaya, Naoki PhD; Ohmori, Kaori MD, PhD; Shimazu, Taichi MD, PhD; Higashiguchi, Mizuka PhD; Kakizaki, Masako MS; Kikuchi, Nobutaka MD, PhD; Kuriyama, Shinichi MD, PhD; Tsuji, Ichiro MD, PhD
Source: Psychosomatic Medicine, 2008
Title: “The role of purpose in life in recovery from knee surgery”
Why it matters: Shows that having purpose is life has numerous positive effects post knee surgery, including less anxiety, depression, and even stiffness.
Key take-aways:
Purpose in life is related to less anxiety, depression, negative emotions, functional disability, stiffness, and more positive emotional states.
Purpose in life may be an important positive personal characteristic and target for health interventions.
Authors: Bruce W Smith, Alex J Zautra
Source: International Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 2004
Title: “Purpose in life is associated with mortality among community-dwelling older persons”
Why it matters: This article looks at the impact of purpose on life expectancy in the elderly.
Key take-away: Greater purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality among community-dwelling older persons.
Authors: Patricia A. Boyle, Lisa L. Barnes, Aron S. Buchman, David A. Bennett
Source: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, 2009
Title: “Purpose in Life and Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome: Replicable Evidence from Two National Samples”
Why it matters: This on-going study shows that purpose in life is an attitude that reduces cognitive decline in the absence of dementia.
Key take-away: Purpose in life is an aspect of well-being that reflects a goal-oriented and goal-driven life that has been implicated in cognitive aging.
Authors: Angelina R Sutin, Martina Luchetti, Yannick Stephan, Antonio Terracciano
Source: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2021
Title: “Effect of purpose in life on the relation between Alzheimer disease pathologic changes on cognitive function in advanced age”
Why it matters: This study shows that purpose in life reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, though it is unable to explain why.
Key take-away: Even though purpose in life is associated with a substantially reduced risk of Alzheimer disease, the neurobiologic basis of this protective effect remains unknown.
Authors: Patricia A Boyle, Aron S Buchman, Robert S Wilson, Lei Yu, Julie A Schneider, David A Bennett
Source: Archives of General Psychiatry, 2012
Title: “Effect of a purpose in life on risk of incident Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment in community-dwelling older persons”
Why it matters: This study shows that purpose in life reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in older persons.
Authors: Patricia A. Boyle, Aron S. Buchman, Lisa L. Barnes, David A. Bennett
Source: Archives of General Psychiatry, 2010
4. The Self
Research on existential issues, identity, meaning and purpose
Title: “Finding the “self” in self-regulation: The identity-value model”
Why it matters: This research looks at identity as a motivating value in self-control and self-regulation in identity-relevant domains (such as meaning-making and purpose in life) by increasing the value of goal-relevant behaviors (i.e., actions, decisions, and choices).
Authors: Elliot T. Berkman, Jordan L. Livingston, and Lauren E. Kahn
Source: Psychological Inquiry, 2017
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6377081
Abstract (edited)
Many psychological theories suggest a link between self-regulation and identity, but until now a mechanistic account that suggests ways to improve self-regulation has not been put forth. The identity-value model (IVM) connects the idea from social psychology, that aspects of identity such as core values and group affiliations hold positive subjective value, to the process-focused account from decision-making and behavioral economics, that self-regulation is driven by a dynamic value integration across a range of choice attributes. Together, these ideas imply that goal-directed behaviors that are identity-relevant are more likely to be enacted because they have greater subjective value than identity-irrelevant behaviors.
Title: “Effects of self-transcendence on neural responses to persuasive messages and health behavior change”
Why it matters: Examines how focusing on other’s well-being (a characteristic of purpose in life) is a rewarding experience and helps people better manage health issues.
Key take-away: Having a positive, other-focused mindset can be a rewarding experience, and may allow people to see the personal value of potentially threatening, yet beneficial, health messages.
Authors: Yoona Kang, Nicole Cooper, Prateekshit Pandey, Christin Scholz, Matthew Brook O’Donnell, Matthew D. Lieberman, Shelley E. Taylor, Victor J. Strecher, Sonya Dal Cin, Sara Konrath, Thad A. Polk, Kenneth Resnicow, Lawrence An, and Emily B. Falk
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2018
Title: “The interplay of frequency of volunteering and prosocial motivation on purpose in life in emerging adults”
Why it matters: This study examines prosocial behaviors, such as volunteering, pleasure-seeking, or external pressures, help emerging adults find meaning and purpose in life.
Key take-away: One developmental task in emerging adulthood is finding meaning and purpose in life and is enhanced by volunteering.
Authors: Morris A Okun and Ga Young Kim, Arizona State University
Source: The Journal of Social Psychology, 2016
