Abstract
In the first part of this chapter, we review research supporting the idea that the subjective experience of meaning in life is a judgment process influenced by many factors, including chronically activated sources of meaning, temporarily accessible information, and one’s current mood. Building upon this understanding of meaning in life as a judgment process, the second part of this chapter examines three potential resolutions to an existential crisis: affirming meaning through a leap of faith, carefully evaluating and reconstructing one’s system of meaning, and meaninglessness. We consider how the meaning in life judgment process might be influenced in each of these cases and examine other potential psychological consequences before calling on future research to explore these and other unexamined aspects of meaning in life.
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Notes
- 1.
The present discussion of resolving an existential crisis has much in common with the literature on posttraumatic growth (see Chap. 5 by Park, this volume; Tedeschi and Calhoun 2004). However, this chapter focuses on meaning in life as a judgment process, leaving a more complete examination of the relationship between existential crises and posttraumatic growth for future work which can devote sufficient attention to the matter.
- 2.
Restoring meaning through a leap of faith would likely not be strongly associated with personal growth, as compared to carefully examining and reconstructing one’s sources of meaning. In the intuitive process of making the leap of faith, individuals are not forced to engage in introspection and reflection regarding what they believe makes their life meaningful and what justification they have for those beliefs. Interestingly, there is the potential for a leap of faith to lead to substantial personal growth depending on the endorsed source of meaning. One possibility is that while an individual may not be able to come up with a justified source of meaning when trying to resolve her existential crisis through careful reconstruction, she may feel strongly that searching for meaning is a good and meaningful activity in itself. Thus, she may make a leap of faith and affirm that it is the search for meaning which provides their life with meaning. Others may affirm the pursuit of knowledge or the betterment of humanity, both of which may promote considerable personal growth. With such possibilities in mind, it remains an empirical question as to whether the process of carefully examining and rebuilding meaning in life offers distinct benefits beyond making a leap of faith in response to an existential crisis.
- 3.
Recent research has examined “existentially indifferent” individuals who report low levels of meaning in life while not experiencing the elevated depression and anxiety typically associated with meaninglessness (Schnell 2010). These individuals do, however, report lower levels of positive affect and satisfaction with life compared to individuals reporting higher levels of meaning in life (Schnell 2010). These findings suggest that the psychological consequences of meaninglessness may not be entirely straightforward.
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Davis, W.E., Hicks, J.A. (2013). Judgments of Meaning in Life Following an Existential Crisis. In: Hicks, J., Routledge, C. (eds) The Experience of Meaning in Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6527-6_13
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