Surviving and Thriving: Fundamental Social Motives Provide Purpose in Life

Scott, Matthew J.; Cohen, Adam B.

doi:10.1177/0146167219883604

Cited by 20 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 56 publications

(86 reference statements)

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“…In that validation study using multiple samples, the measure illustrated a single factor structure, showed strong correlations with existing measures of sense of purpose, and predicted multiple outcomes of relevance to the emerging adult period, such as selfimage concerns, depressive symptoms, and perceptions of adult status, illustrating convergent validity. Furthermore, this measure has been used in other studies further supporting its validity (Kashdan, Disabato, et al, 2020;Scott & Cohen, 2020). Participants responded to each item on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Purpose as a predictor of satisfaction across relationship domains during the first semester of university

Pfund¹,

Bono²,

Hill

2021

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

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Background: Sense of purpose, or the extent to which one perceives their lives to have meaningful goals and directions, may aid in initiating satisfying and stable new connections while positively maintaining old ones for college students. Purpose: The current study sought to evaluate how a college students' sense of purpose during their first week of college may predict their satisfaction with different relationship types throughout their first semester of university. Research Design: At the beginning of the semester, students reported their sense of purpose, and every week of the semester they reported their weekly relationship satisfaction across a variety of domains (i.e., parents, home friends, university friends, roommates, resident assistants, and significant others). Study Sample: The current study followed-up first year college students ( n = 364) from a private Midwestern university who all participated in the same Psychology of Young Adulthood class. Data Analysis: Multilevel models were conducted to evaluate mean-level relationship satisfaction trajectories throughout the first semester and whether sense of purpose predicted those trajectories when accounting for gender and the Big Five personality traits. Results: Friendships with home friends and university friends as well as parental relationships increased in satisfaction during the first semester, while relationships with roommates and resident assistants decreased. Furthermore, a higher sense of purpose was associated with greater relationship satisfaction with university friends and parents, even when accounting for the Big Five personality traits, as well as greater relationship satisfaction stability. Conclusions: Findings paint a nuanced and equivocal nature of relationships during the first semester, and point to the need to better understand how and when sense of purpose does or does not yield positive relationships over time.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Purpose as a predictor of satisfaction across relationship domains during the first semester of university

Pfund¹,

Bono²,

Hill

2021

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

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“…Given that purpose is associated with better cognition 19,20 and lower risk of impairment, 15,16 increases in purpose may help better maintain cognitive function with age. There is also evidence that purpose can be changed through brief experimental manipulations 32 . Such work will be critical for testing the mechanisms through which purpose helps maintain cognition to improve interventions for healthier cognitive aging.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Purpose in Life and Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome: Replicable Evidence from Two National Samples

Sutin

Luchetti

Stéphan

et al. 2020

J American Geriatrics Society

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BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Motoric cognitive risk (MCR) syndrome is characterized by cognitive complaints and slow gait speed in the absence of dementia. Consistent evidence indicates that it predicts dementia and premature mortality. Less is known about its antecedents, particularly the role of psychological function. Purpose in life is an aspect of well‐being that reflects a goal‐oriented and ‐driven life that has been implicated in cognitive aging. We aimed to examine the cross‐sectional association between purpose in life and MCR and to test the hypothesis that purpose is associated with a lower risk of new cases of MCR over an up to 12‐year follow‐up. DESIGN Cross‐sectional and longitudinal multi‐cohort design. SETTING Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). PARTICIPANTS A total of 6,785 individuals from the HRS and 5,665 from the NHATS. MEASUREMENTS Participants reported on their purpose in life and cognitive complaints and completed a walking speed assessment. Cognitive complaints and walking speed were assessed again up to 12 years later in HRS and up to 7 years later in NHATS. RESULTS Higher purpose in life was associated with a 33% lower risk of MCR concurrently (meta‐analytic odds ratio = .75; 95% confidence interval [CI] = .62–.90; P = .002) and an about 26% lower risk of incident MCR longitudinally (meta‐analytic hazard ratio = .77; 95% CI = .70–.84; P < .001). These associations were significant in each sample, were independent of sociodemographic covariates, and persisted after controlling for personality and health‐related factors (depressive symptoms, physical activity, disease burden). CONCLUSION Purpose in life is associated with a lower risk of incident MCR, an association that was replicated in two independent samples. Purpose is a malleable aspect of psychological function that is a promising target of intervention for healthier cognitive aging.

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“…Thus, in theory, adding a food payoff at the end of an otherwise boring task should reduce boredom in animals, in much the same way a charity donation reduces boredom in humans—by making it more meaningful. Indeed, recent work suggests that many of the primary sources of meaning for humans (e.g., kin care) may be rooted in social motives we share in common with other non‐human social animals (Scott & Cohen, 2019).…”

Section: Boring Thoughts Other Mindsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lost by definition: Why boredom matters for psychology and society

Westgate

Steidle

2020

Social & Personality Psych

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Long overlooked, boredom has drawn increasing attention across multiple subfields of psychology (including clinical, developmental, educational, cognitive, and industrial/organizational psychology), as well as economics, philosophy, neuroscience, and animal cognition. In this article, we review and integrate this work by providing a social psychological perspective on boredom as an emotion and its role in signaling the need for change to restore successful attention in meaningful activity. In doing so, we discuss the implications of that approach for understanding boredom cross‐culturally and cross‐species, and identify opportunities for targeted interventions to reduce boredom and improve well‐being.

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Surviving and Thriving: Fundamental Social Motives Provide Purpose in Life

Cited by 20 publications

References 56 publications

Purpose as a predictor of satisfaction across relationship domains during the first semester of university

Purpose as a predictor of satisfaction across relationship domains during the first semester of university

Purpose in Life and Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome: Replicable Evidence from Two National Samples

Lost by definition: Why boredom matters for psychology and society

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