When being far away is good: Exploring how mortality salience, regulatory mode, and goal progress affect judgments of meaning in life

Abstract

Research indicates that death‐relevant thoughts (mortality salience) have a nuanced effect on judgments of life's meaningfulness. Thoughts of death diminish meaning in life only among people who lack or do not readily engage psychological structures that confer meaning. Building on this past research, the current research examined how an important source of meaning, long‐term goal progress, affects the ways that death‐relevant cognitions impact judgments of life's meaning. In Study 1 (N = 118), mortality salience decreased perceptions of meaning in life only among participants who were induced to feel closer to (vs. farther from) completing a long‐term goal. Study 2 (N = 259) extended these findings by demonstrating the moderating influence of individual differences in locomotion. Mortality salience again decreased perceptions of meaning in life among participants who felt closer to accomplishing a long‐term goal, but it only did so among people who do not quickly adopt new goals to pursue (i.e., those low in locomotion). The implications of these findings for better understanding how people maintain meaning in the face of existential concerns and how aspects of goal pursuit affect these processes are discussed.

Material Meaning

“…It is possible that possessing or pursuing an extrinsic goal generates meaning for individuals high in narcissism but achieving these goals does not. Such a finding would be consistent with recent research indicating that feeling further from attaining a goal preserves meaning following an existential threat, whereas feeling closer to attaining a goal does not (Vess, Rogers, Routledge, & Hicks, 2016).…”

Study on the Relationship Among College Students’ Life Satisfaction, Attitudes Toward Death and Sense of Life Meaning*

“…Previous studies have also shown that death-related cognition can affect the judgment of sense of life meaning, [22] and fear of death and avoidance of death are important independent determinants of the experience of sense of life meaning. [23] The meaning of life is revealed when the reality of inevitable death is accepted [24], and studies of older adults have shown that older adults with a strong sense of meaning are less likely to die during study follow-up [25]. This shows to some extent that it is necessary to guide college students to have a correct understanding of death to enhance the sense of meaning of life.…”

The effect of attribute alignability on brand evaluation in a competitive context: The moderating role of regulatory mode

“…Most prior studies on self‐regulation focused on the effect of the locomotion mode on various behaviors (Amato et al, 2016; Crow et al, 2019; Di Santo et al, 2018; Kruglanski, Pierro, & Higgins, 2007; Kruglanski et al, 2009; Kruglanski et al, 2016; Pica et al, 2015; Pierro, Giacomantonio, Pica, Kruglanski, & Higgins, 2013; Vess et al, 2017). For example, Amato et al (2016) found that high locomotors perform more extensive job searches and are likely to have more job interviews and job opportunities, resulting in employment.…”