The three meanings of meaning in life: Distinguishing coherence, purpose, and significance

By Frank Martela, M. Steger. 2016

1,208 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, General Health Professions, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7bdfb80e6341f91aff0a52c8bde0eb367f6a5eba

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In Applied Psychology

In General Health Professions

In Social Psychology

Citations in the corpus

The Making of Violent Extremists (2018, positive): “…been identified as definitive of the human condition, including the desires to gain respect, competence, esteem, and meaning in life (Deci & Ryan, 2000; Fiske, 2010; Frankl, 2000; George & Park, 2016; Higgins, 2012; Maslow, 1943; Martela & Steger, 2016; Steger, Oishi, & Kashdan, 2009; White, 1959).”
Pedagogical principles that support the prioritisation of meaningful experiences in physical education: conceptual and practical considerations (2021, background): “…facilitate evaluation of experience ‘In order to live in the world as reflective beings, humans seem to need three things: they need to comprehend the world around them, they need to find direction for their actions, and they need to find worth in their lives (Martela and Steger 2016, 541).”
Negative emotions in tourism: a meaningful analysis (2019, background): “This denotes a renewed sense of core goals and a new direction in life, which is the purpose aspect of meaning in life (Martela & Steger, 2016).”
Finding Meaning in Nostalgia (2018, background): “Also, do these changes apply equivalently to all three facets of meaning in life (i.e., significance, purposefulness, coherence; King et al., 2016) or to one of them (or a subset of them) more than the others (Martela & Steger, 2016)?”
Fostering meaningful work in organizations: A multi-level review and integration (2019, background): “In particular, meaning in life concerns a global or holistic perspective on what makes our lives matter, rather than only what makes our work worthwhile (Martela & Steger, 2016).”
The Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale: A tripartite approach to measuring meaning in life (2017, methodology): “MIL may be conceptualized as comprising three distinct but related subconstructs, comprehension, purpose, and mattering (George & Park, 2016; King, Hicks, Krull, & Del Gaiso, 2006; Martela & Steger, 2016; Reker & Wong, 1988; Steger, 2012).”
A Meaningful Life is a Healthy Life: A Conceptual Model Linking Meaning and Meaning Salience to Health (2018, background): “…in life, stress, health behaviors Psychologists and philosophers have long been interested in the human experience of meaning and purpose in life (Martela & Steger, 2016; Yalom, 1980), but empirical investigation into this area has grown substantially only recently (for a review, see Heintzelman…”
From Shattered Goals to Meaning in Life: Life Crafting in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020, background): “Significance is partly dependent on purpose, but also on other factors such as relationships with friends or family (Martela and Steger, 2016).”
Psychology, Meaning Making, and the Study of Worldviews: Beyond Religion and Non-Religion (2018, methodology): “…of interest to evolutionary psychologists and (b) the implicit, intuitive, nonlinguistic and nonconscious processes of making sense of “the world” of interest to cognitive anthropologists (Strauss & Quinn, 1997) and psychologists of meaning (Martela & Steger, 2016; Proulx & Inzlicht, 2012).”
Adventure recreation and subjective well-being: a conceptual framework (2020, background): “Our conceptual framework will also identify and differentiate amongst three proposed elements of eudaemonia (i.e., coherence, purpose, significance; Martela & Steger, 2016), that may be supported when adventure recreation experiences satisfy basic psychological needs.”
Meaningfulness as Satisfaction of Autonomy, Competence, Relatedness, and Beneficence: Comparing the Four Satisfactions and Positive Affect as Predictors of Meaning in Life (2018, background): “A number of researchers have suggested that there would be three different dimensions of MIL (e.g. Heintzelman and King 2014a; King et al. 2006; Martela and Steger 2016; Steger 2012): The purpose dimension refers to highly personalized over-arching aspirations that guide behaviors toward valued…”
Private self-consciousness in daily life: Relationships between rumination and reflection and well-being, and meaning in daily life (2017, background): “Presence has been defined as the extent to which one finds meaning, purpose, and coherence in life (Martela & Steger, 2016).”
Basic psychological need theory: Advancements, critical themes, and future directions (2020, positive): “Also, much like other potential need candidates, such as self-actualization (Maslow 1971) and meaning (Martela and Steger 2016), self-esteem represents an outcome that follows from having psychological needs fulfilled.”
Positive psychology in a pandemic: buffering, bolstering, and building mental health (2021, background): “These three elements are referred to as coherence, significance, and purpose (Martela & Steger, 2016).”
Beyond the Search for Meaning (2016, background): “Three central components of meaning are highlighted in this definition and throughout the literature on this topic: purpose, significance, and coherence (Heintzelman & King, 2014b; Martela & Steger, 2016; Park & George, 2013).”
Meaning in Life as Comprehension, Purpose, and Mattering: Toward Integration and New Research Questions (2016, background): “A tripartite view emphasizes considering the distinct natures of comprehension, purpose, and mattering (Martela & Steger, 2016).”