Prosociality enhances meaning in life

Abstract

A central feature of meaning in life is a consideration of more than oneself. We extend this logic to suggest that altruistically motivated prosociality – acting in ways that benefit others – is a self-transcending action that may provide meaning in life. Study 1 provided evidence of a relationship between self-reported prosocial behavior and meaning in life, even after statistically controlling for personality traits and self-esteem. Study 2 provided evidence that engaging in a prosocial action, via writing notes of gratitude, increased meaning in life. Study 3 provided evidence that individuals bolster perceptions of prosociality following threats to meaning. Study 4 suggested relationship satisfaction partially mediates the link between prosocial actions and meaning in life. These studies provide initial evidence that prosociality enhances meaning in life.

Keywords:

• prosocial
• meaning
• morality
• relationships

Notes

1. Study 1 was drawn from a larger data-set of variables that examined the associations among various relationship variables (i.e. attachment, commitment, satisfaction, investments, alternatives), personality variables (i.e. anxiety, depression, trait forgivingness, trait gratitude, humility, need to belong, narcissism, attachment style), and potential outcome measures (i.e. happiness, well-being, need to belong) that was designed to address multiple research questions.

2. The primary analyses below were still marginally significant when including the participant that failed to follow instructions but were not significant when including the three participants who guessed the hypothesis.

3. The materials also included measures of self-control, self-compassion, empathy, state-level self-esteem, cultural worldview defense, and intercultural tolerance. There were no significant main effects on any of those variables.

4. Looked at differently, because the self-affirmation and neutral conditions did not significantly vary from one another, when comparing the gratitude condition to those two conditions combined yielded a significant difference, F(1, 81) = 5.31, p = 0.024,  = 0.06.

5. The key interaction remained significant when including the dropped participants, though some of the pairwise comparisons did not.

6. The total testing battery, which also sought to examine separate research questions, included measures of religious commitment, self-esteem, perfectionism, gratitude, mindfulness, modesty, humility, need to belong, meaning in life, literal/symbolic immortality, moral identity, death-thought accessibility, intercultural tolerance, and cultural worldview defense. We focused only on the variables of interest in Study 3.

7. These variables are taken from a data-set from a larger project exploring religious determinants of meaning that included other variables examining personality (religious commitment, religious orientation scales, authoritarianism, conformity, attachment, moral foundations, beliefs regarding immortality, self-comparison, empathy, cultural worldview defense, and intercultural tolerance). Data from this sample have been published elsewhere (see references for Van Tongeren, Hook, & Davis, 2013). However, these analyses have not previously been published.