Striving for the Sacred: Personal Goals, Life Meaning, and Religion

By Robert A Emmons. 2005

460 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Health, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d1642406abe1e7846c7600c42d8a7d5cac38b4b2

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Citations in the corpus

Religious commitment and positive mood as information about meaning in life (2008, unknown): “Religion has long been recognized as a central source of meaning in life, providing individuals with core beliefs, expectations, and goals, and placing the individual’s life into a larger, more ultimate context (Batson & Stocks, 2004; Emmons, 2005; Fletcher, 2004; Fry, 2000).”
The Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (SoMe): Relations to demographics and well-being (2009, background): “Goals are consciously accessible (Emmons, 2005), though goal setting can also be unconsciously generated (Bargh & Barndollar, 1996).”
Meaning in life and work: A developmental perspective (2015, background): “This is supported by several studies that have asked participants the sources of their life meaning, finding common responses including relationships, religion, service, and work (Baum & Stewart, 1990; DeVogler & Ebersole, 1981; Emmons, 2005; Fegg et al., 2007).”
Predicting meaning in work: Theory, data, implications (2013, background): “A sense of direction is indispensable for the pursuit of life purpose and thus a necessary element of meaning in life (Emmons, 2005; Schnell, 2009a, 2010b; Wong, 1998).”
Meaning-Making in an Atheist World (2011, background): “Since commitment in general is conducive to experiences of meaning (Emmons, 2005; Schnell, 2009b), and meaningfulness can be derived from secular as well as religious or spiritual sources of meaning (Schnell, 2008a), we concur with Harris and hypothesise that atheists will experience equal levels…”
Sources and motives for personal meaning in adulthood (2013, background): “Within the project-oriented conceptualization outlined in the opening paragraph of this paper, relationships/intimacy, achievement/work, religion/spirituality and self-transcendence/generativity/service were identified as the ultimate components of meaning (Emmons, 2005).”
Eco-Existential Positive Psychology: Experiences in Nature, Existential Anxieties, and Well-Being (2014, unknown): “Elliot and Maier’s (2012) color in context theory has recently argued that, for humans, the color green (characteristic of much of nature) is inherently associated with life, hope, and growth.”
Finding a Meaningful Life as a Developmental Task in Emerging Adulthood (2014, background): “Current discussions in behavioral science assert that for our species, meaning making, and especially pursuit of meaningful goals, is fundamental and essential and apparently distinguishes us as a species (Baumeister, 1991; Emmons, 2005).”
Beyond the Search for Meaning (2016, background): “Furthermore, religion can help a person to establish goals to foster a meaningful existence (Emmons, 2005).”
Assessing meaning and meaning making in the context of stressful life events: Measurement tools and approaches (2013, background): “For example, religious beliefs may be intricately related to goals that reflect those beliefs (Emmons, 2005).”
Are meaning and purpose distinct? An examination of correlates and predictors (2013, background): “Although religion and spirituality may also provide features of purpose such as a sense of direction and enthusiasm regarding the future (Emmons, 2005), this seems to be a less salient function of religion and spirituality than the provision of a sense of comprehension and understanding regarding…”
Understanding the Relationship Between Perceived Authenticity and Well-Being (2019, result): “In this way, studying perceived authenticity through the lens of true-self lay beliefs may be similar to the study of free will (Vohs & Schooler, 2008; Wegner, 2002) or religious beliefs (e.g., Emmons, 2005) in that it is the perception of reality that matters more than the actual reality.”
Individual differences in meaning-making: Considering the variety of sources of meaning, their density and diversity (2011, background): “Some findings seem to indicate that certain sources of meaning, such as religiosity (Emmons, 2005; Schnell, 2010), or community (Debats, 1999; O’Connor & Chamberlain, 1996), are more predictive of meaningfulness than others.”