How our purpose in life affects us

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Psychologists reflect on the main stimulus for human action.

Writers, journalists and philosophers have long thought about the importance of a life purpose. Despite their efforts, we do not yet even have a clear definition of this concept. According to psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, you can cope with almost anything, you just need to find a goal. He described his philosophy in the book Say Yes to Life: A Psychologist in a Concentration Camp, where, unlike modern works, there is no mention of happiness at all.

Psychologist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, author of the five stages of grief, argues: “The denial of death is partly to blame for people living empty, aimless lives. When it seems that you will live forever, it is easy to postpone responsibilities for later."

But as the writer Bernard Shaw said in the play “Man and Superman”: “The real joy of life is to give yourself to a goal, the grandeur of which you are aware of; to use up all your strength before you are thrown into a landfill, to become one of the driving forces of nature, and not a cowardly and selfish bundle of illnesses and failures, offended by the world because it cared little about your happiness."

All of this raises more questions than it answers.

Colleague Patrick McKnight and I propose this definition: purpose is the central, self-organizing aspiration of life.

1. This is the main component in a person's identity. If you were asked to place the characteristics of your personality on a round board, this desire would be almost in the very center.
2. It sets up systematic patterns of behavior in everyday life. And this is manifested in what tasks you set yourself, how much effort you spend on them, how you allocate time.

The pursuit of life motivates a person to spend resources in a certain way and give up other options. Ultimate goals and projects are offshoots of a great life aspiration. It cannot be fully implemented - you can only constantly direct energy to projects inspired by it.

Of course, all this does little to advance us towards identifying our own goal. Research to date has oversimplified the topic. So far, scientists have just found that people who score more on goal questionnaires are more positive about their lives.

We wrote a paper that explored the underlying processes that explain why having a purpose in life affects health and well-being. In it, we described ten possible connections of the goal with different aspects of life.

Here is a summary of our points:

1. Cognitive engagement. We do not believe that purpose is a prerequisite for everyday life. People without a goal are simply not cognitively involved. This slightly increases the risk of unwanted consequences: mental and physical health problems, short life expectancy. But a long healthy life and an everyday existence are not synonymous.

2. Ultimate goals. There are various theories as to why people do certain things. In our opinion, needs can be determined by a higher-order factor - the goal.

Having a goal, people are better aware of their inner values, interests and aspirations.

At the same time, the goal in life does not necessarily imply any tangible result. But it motivates to strive for smaller end goals. From them you can get a partial idea of a person. Well, in order to understand him completely, you need to analyze the factor of a higher level - his main aspiration in life.

3–4. Consistency of behavior. The goal in life is to stimulate constancy in behavior. It helps to overcome obstacles, look for alternatives and concentrate on your intention, even when something changes in the outside world.

5–6. External environment and stress. Human interaction with the environment is very important. Under certain conditions, the goal in life can become unprofitable. And in some cases, such as imprisonment, the environment can interfere with the movement towards the goal. From this, a person experiences severe stress.

The very presence of a goal probably leads to the fact that people feel more psychological and physical stress (arrow 6). However, the stress response decreases when environmental conditions are more favorable.

7–9. Religiosity and health. Much research on the purpose of life is limited to religiosity and spirituality. They conclude that high levels of religiosity are associated with high levels of health. We believe that at different periods of life, the goal can both influence religious beliefs and experience their influence on itself (arrow 7).

Most people become involved in religion as a child under the influence of their parents. Their beliefs are driven by their upbringing and imitation of their elders, not internal characteristics. Therefore, early acquired religious affiliation can form a life goal. But after that, the causal relationship changes: the goal determines religiosity.

The latter is also indirectly related to physical (arrow 8) and mental (arrow 9) health. At the same time, the life purpose serves as an intermediary between them.

10. Individual differences. There are conditions due to which some simply cannot have a life purpose. The most likely of these is reduced mental capacity. Including those caused by brain injury, medical conditions (such as dementia) or alcoholism.

A person who is unable to understand abstract concepts will find it difficult to formulate a goal. It takes discernment, introspection and planning.

However, people who do not have a goal may well lead a happy and fruitful life. But the realization of its absence, on the contrary, can lead to suffering. This is not uncommon. After all, the ability to formulate a goal does not guarantee that a person will strive for it.

One of the amazing things about science is that every research leads to new questions. And in the sphere of life goals, many of them still remain unanswered: for example, how goals are formed, developed and what benefits they bring us.