Most days pass in a constant rush. We have tasks to complete, responsibilities to fulfill, and plans for the next day. Yet sometimes we step outside this flow, pause and observe our lives from a distance. We may wonder whether something we have pursued for years truly makes us happy or question how much the life we lead is our own. We reflect on our habits, relationships, choices, priorities, and values, asking what they bring to our lives and what they mean. We do not simply live; we also try to make sense of our lives. Yet the meaning of life does not mean the same thing for everyone. Some believe life already has meaning waiting to be discovered; others see life as an opportunity to create meaning ourselves.
This distinction, arising from questions about the meaning of life, was systematically examined using the Meaning in Life Questionnaire developed by Steger et al. in 2006, making the seemingly abstract concept of meaning in life empirically measurable. The questionnaire distinguishes two dimensions: presence of meaning, reflecting how meaningfully people perceive their lives, and search for meaning, reflecting efforts to find or better understand life’s meaning. This distinction helped establish meaning in life as a measurable psychological construct whose associations with other variables can be investigated, rather than merely a philosophical question. Subsequent studies used the questionnaire to examine how both dimensions relate to life satisfaction and well-being.
Meaning and Psychological Well-Being
Park et al. (2010) examined how presence of meaning and search for meaning were associated with different indicators of well-being in a study involving 731 adults. Participants’ levels of presence of meaning and search for meaning were assessed using the Meaning in Life Questionnaire; life satisfaction, happiness, positive and negative affect, and levels of depression were also measured. The researchers found that people who felt that their lives were more meaningful reported greater happiness, life satisfaction, and positive affect, as well as lower levels of depression and negative affect. Search for meaning, by contrast, was generally associated with lower happiness and life satisfaction and with higher depression and negative affect. However, among people who already experienced a high level of meaning in their lives, search for meaning was associated with greater life satisfaction and happiness. This suggests that the relationship between searching for meaning and well-being may depend on how much meaning a person already experiences in life.
To determine whether these findings were specific to a single study, Li et al. (2021) conducted a three-level meta-analysis bringing together results from different studies. They examined data from 147 studies using the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, comprising a total of 92,169 participants, to assess the relationships of presence of meaning and search for meaning with subjective well-being. The results showed a clear and consistent association between presence of meaning and subjective well-being. The association between search for meaning and well-being was weaker and more variable across studies. The researchers also found that this association differed under certain conditions. For example, the relationship between search for meaning and well-being was more positive in samples representing more collectivistic societies. Thus, the meta-analysis supported a strong and consistent association between presence of meaning and well-being, while showing that the relationship between search for meaning and well-being is more complex and context-dependent.
Steger et al. (2011) examined how search for meaning co-occurred with a person’s sense of meaning in life across three studies involving 424 university students. The researchers investigated the relationships among how much meaning people felt in their lives, how much they searched for meaning, and their life satisfaction. The findings showed that the association between presence of meaning and life satisfaction was stronger among people who scored higher in search for meaning. The researchers then tested this finding in an experimental study involving 151 university students. Participants were given short descriptions of a fictional person’s life. The descriptions varied in how they portrayed whether the person found their life meaningful and how much enjoyment they derived from it. Participants were asked to evaluate how satisfied this person was with their life based on the information provided. The results indicated that information about whether a person’s life was meaningful influenced judgments of that person’s life satisfaction, and that this effect varied according to the evaluator’s own level of search for meaning.
Using experience sampling, Newman et al. (2018) tracked search for meaning and daily well-being among 254 university students over a two-week period. Rather than asking participants to recall their overall feelings afterward, the researchers collected brief daily assessments, enabling them to examine both differences between people and day-to-day changes within individuals. Those who generally searched for meaning more reported lower well-being than others. Yet, within the same person, well-being was higher on days when they searched more than usual. General differences between people therefore differed from daily fluctuations within individuals, suggesting that the association between search for meaning and well-being varies both between and within people.
The Cultural Dimension of Meaning
Fischer et al. (2021) compared 225 university students from Turkey and 377 from the United States, examining associations between presence of meaning, search for meaning, and well-being across cultures. In both samples, greater presence of meaning was associated with more positive well-being indicators, whereas search for meaning was associated with less positive indicators. However, the relationship between searching and well-being depended on existing meaning. Among American participants, presence of meaning did not significantly moderate this relationship. Among Turkish participants, those experiencing greater meaning appeared to experience fewer negative outcomes associated with searching. Existing meaning thus weakened the negative association between search for meaning and well-being in the Turkish sample. Although searching may appear negative in isolation, its outcomes may differ depending on a person’s existing sense of meaning and cultural context.
Fung and Fung (2020) investigated why searching for meaning might produce different psychological outcomes across cultures. Examining Eastern and Western understandings of meaning, they analyzed data from 2,014 participants aged 18–96 in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany, the United States, and the Czech Republic. They discussed how searching may indicate an absence of meaning but may also reflect efforts to improve one’s life and develop a more meaningful direction. Search for meaning appeared more positively associated with presence of meaning and life satisfaction in Eastern samples, but more negatively associated with these outcomes in Western samples. Age also appeared to play a role: as age increased, the relationships between search for meaning, presence of meaning, and life satisfaction could become more positive. The authors proposed that these differences might reflect cultural thinking styles. They suggested that dialectical thinking, often described as more prominent in Eastern cultures, may allow people to consider both the current state of affairs and the possibility of change. By contrast, opposition-based thinking, described as more common in Western cultures, may encourage people to view presence of meaning and search for meaning as mutually opposing processes. The study therefore suggested that finding meaning and continuing to seek it need not be mutually exclusive. Particularly in Eastern contexts, searching may reflect personal growth and ongoing reassessment rather than an absence of meaning.
An Overview of the Findings
Taken together, these studies suggest that the relationship between meaning in life and a good life does not follow a single, uniform direction. They largely agree that people who find life meaningful tend to be more satisfied and experience life more positively. However, the findings concerning search for meaning are not nearly as consistent. Some findings associate searching for meaning with lower well-being, whereas others suggest that this relationship may depend on whether a person already has a strong sense of meaning. Moreover, even within the same person, this relationship may vary with life circumstances and daily experiences.
An important distinction that emerges here is the difference between searching for meaning and living without meaning. Some people who find their lives meaningful also continue to search for new meanings, reconsider their existing goals, or develop new purposes. Finding meaning and searching for meaning, therefore, do not appear to be opposing processes. In fact, when a person’s existing sense of meaning is strong, searching for meaning can be positively associated with life satisfaction. This suggests that the search for meaning should not be treated as a negative experience in itself.
Cross-cultural studies further show that this relationship cannot be explained solely by an individual’s inner world. The more positive associations between search for meaning and well-being found in some cultural samples suggest that the process should not be considered independently of a person’s relationships, social ties, or cultural context. Moreover, the association between search for meaning and well-being may also vary with age, highlighting the importance of taking a person’s stage of life into account when evaluating the search for meaning.
To Let Life Unfold or to Pursue Meaning?
Meaning is shaped by the culture in which a person lives, their relationships, social expectations, and many other factors. In one society, meaning may be associated with achieving goals and making one’s own choices; in another, relationships, family, and community may serve as more central sources of meaning. For some people, life becomes meaningful through religion; for others, through discovering who they are at their core, the relationships they build with loved ones, creating or producing something, pursuing a goal, or contributing to other people’s lives. Even for the same person, which of these feels most meaningful may change over time, because the meaning of “meaning” is variable not only between people but also within an individual’s own life. For this reason, it may be more useful to view meaning not as a fixed goal to be reached, but as a concept that evolves over the course of life.
Over time, our relationships, values, goals, and expectations of a good life change, as we do. Someone who finds meaning in helping others may spend years pursuing that purpose, only to find it insufficient and question life’s meaning again. Similarly, someone who has long prioritized career success may reach their desired position and discover that it is less fulfilling than expected, prompting them to reconsider what matters to them. Even after we have developed a sense of meaning, “meaning” may begin to signify something different to us, leading us to search for it again.
A good life requires us to hold on to the things that continue to give our lives meaning while reconsidering what no longer fits us, so that we can make room for new sources of meaning. This may be possible only if we avoid defining life within rigid boundaries and remain flexible enough to make room for new meanings.
Kaynakça
- Fischer, I. C., Secinti, E., Cemalcilar, Z., & Rand, K. L. (2021). Examining cross-cultural relationships between meaning in life and psychological well-being in Turkey and the United States. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22(3), 1341–1358. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00275-z
- Fung, N. L. K., & Fung, H. (2020). Presence of meaning mediates the relationship between meaning search and outcome: A cross-cultural study. Innovation in Aging, 4(Supplement_1), 308. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa057.986
- Li, J.-B., Dou, K., & Liang, Y. (2021). The relationship between presence of meaning, search for meaning, and subjective well-being: A three-level meta-analysis based on the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22(1), 467–489. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00230-y
- Newman, D. B., Nezlek, J. B., & Thrash, T. M. (2018). The dynamics of searching for meaning and presence of meaning in daily life. Journal of Personality, 86(3), 368–379. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12321
- Park, N., Park, M., & Peterson, C. (2010). When is the search for meaning related to life satisfaction? Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 2(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2009.01024.x
- Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M. (2006). The Meaning in Life Questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53(1), 80–93. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.53.1.80
- Steger, M. F., Oishi, S., & Kesebir, S. (2011). Is a life without meaning satisfying? The moderating role of the search for meaning in satisfaction with life judgments. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 6(3), 173–180. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2011.569171