What’s It All For? The Role of Purpose, Mattering, & Coherence in Cultivating a Meaningful Life

Heidi A. Zetzer, Ph.D., Director Carol Ackerman Positive Psychology Clinic Hosford Counseling & Psychological Services Clinic Carol Ackerman Positive Psychology Clinic Hosford Counseling & Psychological Services Clinic

Positive psychology uses your strengths to overcome roadblocks and engage in a more joyful, courageous, meaningful life.

The Carol Ackerman Positive Psychology Clinic conducts research on the benefits of psychotherapy and the role that positive emotion plays in fostering mental, emotional, and behavioral health and wellness for children and adults.

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 2 2/20/2019 • You can have MIL without knowing the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. :) Meaning in Life

MIL refers to people’s perceptions that their lives matter, that they make sense, and that they unfold in accordance with some over-arching purpose. (Steger & Dik, 2009, p. 133)

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 3 2/20/2019 Participants will learn about: * The importance of meaning in life * Sources of meaning * How to increase a "felt sense" of meaning in life

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 4 2/20/2019 Artist

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 5 2/20/2019 Artist’s Home Dec, 2018

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 6 2/20/2019 Artist’s Home December, 2019

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 7 2/20/2019 What if you got a “second chance”?

“ I should have died. What am I going to do now?” • Salience of MIL varies • Developmental Events • Transitions “I wanted to give it away, but I needed it to live.” • Crises precipitate a search for meaning

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 8 2/20/2019 Making Meaning is What Makes Us Human! Meaning in Life is Simple & Complex (Hill, 2018; Steger, 2009)

• Simple • Purpose-Centered (Motivation) • Significance-Centered (Cognition) • Complex • You can sense it (Emotion) • You can appraise it (Evaluation) • You can seek it (Motivation) • You can create it (Cognition) • You might like thinking about it (Attitude)

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 9 2/20/2019 Meaning in Life Correlates

Bonebright, Clay, & Ankenmann, 2000; Davis, Wortman, Lehman, & Slver, 2000;King, Hicks, Krull, & Del Gaiso, 2006; Reker & Wong, 1988; Schnell, 2009; Steger, Frazier, Oishi, & Kaler, 2006; Steger, Oishi, & Kashdan, 2009; Zetzer, 2017 Positive Correlations Negative Correlations • Positive mood (bidirectional) • Anxiety • Satisfaction with life • Depression • Subjective well-being • Substance abuse • Happiness • Seeking therapy • Physical and mental health • Workaholism • Longevity • Work-life conflict • Adapting to negative life events • Better work adjustment

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 10 2/20/2019 Tripartite Model of MIL

Purpose/Goals, Mattering, & Coherence (Hill, 2018; Simon, Arndt, Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1998; Steger, 2009; Steger & Dik, 2009) Purpose/Goals Mattering Coherence

• Identification of and intention • Universal need to be noticed to pursue highly valued over • Making sense of one’s past, arching lie-goals • Feel recognized/important present, and future • Purpose tied to values • Having value “as a person” • Comprehensibility • Purpose informs goals • Comes from relationships • Understanding one’s life • Active engagement in pursuing • Part of something greater than • Order out of chaos goals oneself; part of a community • Culturally informed especially • Transcends mundane • Making contributions after a traumatic or terror event concerns

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 11 2/20/2019 Two More Aspects

(Hill, 2018, p. 23) Felt Sense Reflectivity • Intuitive global felt sense that • Valuing and enjoying thinking one’s life is meaningful, about meaning in life without necessarily knowing the reasons • Asking and reflecting on: What is my purpose? • Being grounded • • Do I matter? • Being centered • What is my significance? • Being in tune with life • Being connected to self

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 12 2/20/2019 Purpose Mattering Coherence Felt Sense Reflectivity Goals Career/work Relationships Religion or Purpose/goals Seeing benefits spirituality of reflection Achievement Belonging Preserving Mattering Encouragement values to reflect Selected Vocation Intimacy Introspection Coherence Curiosity about on past, MIL Sources of present, future Dedication to a Purpose and Attitude Self- Introspection Meaning cause goals towards acceptance suffering Sources may range from Altruism or Coherence Managing fear Self-worth helping others of death Negative/unhealthy to Neutral to Doing valuable Career/work Reflecting on Self- Positive/healthy work existential transcendence issues Creativity Helping others Belonging Personal growth (Hill, 2018, p. 56) Having a Leaving a Purpose/goals Reflecting on passionPositive for Psychology/Hosfordlegacy Clinic MIL 13 2/20/2019 one’s work Meaning in Life Activity

Purpose Coherence Goals Comprehensibility

Mattering Felt Sense

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 14 2/20/2019 Take-Aways

• Purpose/Goals • Concrete goals depend on abstract goals (values) for motivation • Self-transcendent goals promote meaning in life • Mattering • Relationships matter most • Coherence • Making sense is important and contributes to purpose • Felt Sense • Meaning in life can be felt, but hard to describe • Reflectivity • Promotes awareness of meaning

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 15 2/20/2019 Dreaming a Life ~ A Blank Canvas A Day

Positive Psychology/Hosford Clinic 16 2/20/2019 THANK YOU! Heidi A. Zetzer, Ph.D.

Hosford Clinic Phone 805-893-8064 Website http://education.ucsb.edu/hosford