TY - JOUR
T1 - Surviving and Thriving
T2 - Fundamental Social Motives Provide Purpose in Life
AU - Scott, Matthew J.
AU - Cohen, Adam B.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Kathryn Johnson and Douglas Kenrick for comments on earlier drafts of this article. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Arizona State University Graduate and Professional Student Association funded some of the current research.
Funding Information:
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3230-3324 Scott Matthew J. 1 Cohen Adam B. 1 1 Arizona State University, Tempe, USA Matthew J. Scott, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA. Email: [email protected] 11 2019 0146167219883604 26 5 2019 27 9 2019 © 2019 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc 2019 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc. Purpose in life (PIL) is often associated with grand achievements and existential beliefs, but recent theory suggests that it might ultimately track gainful pursuit of basic evolved goals. Five studies ( N = 1,993) investigated the relationships between fundamental social motives and PIL. In Study 1, attribution of a life goal pursuit to disease avoidance, affiliation, or kin care motives correlated with higher PIL. Studies 2 and 3 found correlations of self-protection, disease avoidance, affiliation, mate retention, and kin care motives with PIL after controlling for potential confounds. Study 4 showed that writing about success in the status, mating, and kin care domains increased PIL. Study 5 replicated the effect for mating and kin care, but not for status. Results imply that fundamental motives link to PIL through a sense of progress, rather than raw desire. Overall, this set of studies suggests that pursuit of evolved fundamental goals contributes to a purposeful life. motivation purpose meaning well-being evolution arizona state university https://doi.org/10.13039/100007482 edited-state corrected-proof We thank Kathryn Johnson and Douglas Kenrick for comments on earlier drafts of this article. Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Arizona State University Graduate and Professional Student Association funded some of the current research. ORCID iD Matthew J. Scott https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3230-3324 Supplemental Material Supplemental material is available online with this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.
PY - 2020/6/1
Y1 - 2020/6/1
N2 - Purpose in life (PIL) is often associated with grand achievements and existential beliefs, but recent theory suggests that it might ultimately track gainful pursuit of basic evolved goals. Five studies (N = 1,993) investigated the relationships between fundamental social motives and PIL. In Study 1, attribution of a life goal pursuit to disease avoidance, affiliation, or kin care motives correlated with higher PIL. Studies 2 and 3 found correlations of self-protection, disease avoidance, affiliation, mate retention, and kin care motives with PIL after controlling for potential confounds. Study 4 showed that writing about success in the status, mating, and kin care domains increased PIL. Study 5 replicated the effect for mating and kin care, but not for status. Results imply that fundamental motives link to PIL through a sense of progress, rather than raw desire. Overall, this set of studies suggests that pursuit of evolved fundamental goals contributes to a purposeful life.
AB - Purpose in life (PIL) is often associated with grand achievements and existential beliefs, but recent theory suggests that it might ultimately track gainful pursuit of basic evolved goals. Five studies (N = 1,993) investigated the relationships between fundamental social motives and PIL. In Study 1, attribution of a life goal pursuit to disease avoidance, affiliation, or kin care motives correlated with higher PIL. Studies 2 and 3 found correlations of self-protection, disease avoidance, affiliation, mate retention, and kin care motives with PIL after controlling for potential confounds. Study 4 showed that writing about success in the status, mating, and kin care domains increased PIL. Study 5 replicated the effect for mating and kin care, but not for status. Results imply that fundamental motives link to PIL through a sense of progress, rather than raw desire. Overall, this set of studies suggests that pursuit of evolved fundamental goals contributes to a purposeful life.
KW - evolution
KW - meaning
KW - motivation
KW - purpose
KW - well-being
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U2 - 10.1177/0146167219883604
DO - 10.1177/0146167219883604
M3 - Article
C2 - 31722617
AN - SCOPUS:85075329502
SN - 0146-1672
VL - 46
SP - 944
EP - 960
JO - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
JF - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
IS - 6
ER -