The mind’s eye: A photographic method for understanding meaning in people’s lives

Through the windows of the soul: A pilot study using photography to enhance meaning in life

“…A qualitative report using this sample has been published previously, though there is no overlap with the data reported here (Steger, Shim, Brueske, Rush, Shin, & Merriman, 2013). One participant did not complete Time 2 activities, leaving 85 total participants (age M¼ 19.3 years; SD¼1.9 years; 73.8% female, and 83.3% European-American).…”

What makes meals ‘memorable’? A consumer-centric exploration

“…Another approach could be the participant-driven-photoelicitation (Justesen, Mikkelsen, & Gyimóthy, 2014), whereby participants take pictures of their eating experiences. Asking people to take pictures of objects or events has been shown a good experimental way to let them express what is meaningful in their life while avoiding linguistic bias (Steger et al, 2013). Recently, Vidal, Ares, and Jaeger (2014) suggested that Tweets about eating occasions often are accompanied by pictures and the use of emoticons to convey the emotional character of the eating occasion.…”

You, me, and meaning: an integrative review of connections between relationships and meaning in life

“…It is important to look at the qualitative sources of meaning to identify the way in which meaning is experienced and expressed by people. Beginning in the 1970's, several studies have investigated the sources of a meaningful life (Bar-Tur, Savaya, & Prager, 2001;Battista & Almond, 1973;Debats;1999;Delle Fave, Brdar, Freire, Vella-Brodrick, & Wissing, 2011;Delle Fave, Pozzo, Bassi, & Cetin, 2013;DeVogler & Ebersole, 1980;Ebersole & Depaola, 1987;McCarthy, 1983;O'Connor & Chamberlain, 1996;Prager, 1996;Schnell, 2009; Steger et al, 2013;Taylor & Ebersole, 1993). Sources of meaning have included lifework, defined as "meaning through engagement in one's job, schooling, or main occupation" (e.g., Debats, 1999, p. 38), health (e.g., Delle Fave, et al 2011, personal growth (e.g., Prager, 1996), service, pleasure, living according to one's beliefs and obtaining, which includes the pursuit of material goods, respect and responsibility (DeVogler & Ebersole, 1980;Ebersole & DePaola, 1987).…”