ABSTRACT

The desire for a meaningful life is ubiquitous, yet the ordinary concept of a meaningful life is poorly understood. Across six experiments (total N = 2,539), we investigated whether third-person attributions of meaning depend on the psychological states an agent experiences (feelings of interest, engagement, and fulfillment), or on the objective conditions of their life (e.g., their effects on others). Studies 1a–b found that laypeople think subjective and objective factors contribute independently to the meaningfulness of a person’s life. Studies 2a–b found that positive mental states are thought to make a life more meaningful, even if derived from senseless activities (e.g., hand-copying the dictionary). Studies 3a–b found that agents engaged in morally bad activities are not thought to have meaningful lives, even if they feel fulfilled. In short, both an agents’ subjective mental states and objective impact on the world affect how meaningful their lives appear.

摘要

对有意义生活的渴望无处不在，但对有意义生活的普通概念却知之甚少。在六个实验中（总共N= 2,539），我们调查了第三人称的意义归因是否取决于代理人经历的心理状态（兴趣、参与和满足感），还是取决于他们生活的客观条件（例如，他们对他人的影响）。研究 1a-b 发现，外行人认为主观和客观因素独立地影响了一个人生活的意义。研究 2a-b 发现，积极的心理状态被认为使生活更有意义，即使是从无意义的活动（例如，手抄字典）中得出的。研究 3a-b 发现，从事道德不良活动的代理人即使感到充实，也不被认为过着有意义的生活。简而言之，代理人的主观心理状态和对世界的客观影响都会影响他们生活的意义。