Positive Psychology in Search for Meaning

Citation

Liz Gulliford (2015), "Positive Psychology in Search for Meaning", Journal of Public Mental Health, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 214-214. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-09-2015-0042

There can be no doubt that the concept of meaning, while acknowledged to be a very important aspect of positive psychology, has received very little research attention in comparison with the topics of happiness, well-being, positive emotions and the cultivation of strengths. This book makes great strides towards addressing this hugely important yet neglected and demanding field of positive psychology. It succeeds in giving readers an overview of the main theoretical and methodological challenges facing the psychology of meaning and it offers unique insights which are well expressed and engaging to read.

Originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Positive Psychology (Vol. 8 (6), 2013), the book would be of special interest to psychologists (both positive and “general”), and to practitioners who consistently address the question of meaning in life, such as psychotherapists and others working in health domains more broadly conceived. The book may also be of interest to empirically minded philosophers.

This collection is to be commended for tackling an extremely difficult topic whilst succeeding in “respecting the complexity of the problem” (p. 13). Editor Leontiev’s opening chapters lay the ground well for the ensuing seven contributions, which cover a range of topics: the role of intuitive processes in meaning (Chapter 3), meaning in stressful life events (Chapter 4), differences between a happy life and a meaningful life (Chapter 5), a cross-cultural study of sources and motives for personal meaning in adulthood (Chapter 6), photographic methods for gathering data on meaning in life (Chapter 7), predicting meaning in the workplace (Chapter 8) and the role of the experience of pride in meaning-making in daily life (Chapter 9).

Many chapters draw the important distinction between creating/constructing meaning and detecting/finding meaning (e.g. Delle Fave et al., Chapter 6) and many contributions give extremely helpful reviews of the existing literatures (e.g. Heintzelman and King, Chapter 4) that enable the interested reader to get up to speed quickly with the state of the art. Much ink has been spilled over the difference between a happy life and a meaningful life and Baumeister et al.’s Chapter (5) proposes interesting insights about the associated time-perspectives of happy lives in contrast with meaningful lives. It also offers reflection on the role of biology, identity and culture in happy and meaningful lives and the correlates of each. Given the amount of time many of us spend in the workplace, Schnell et al.’s Chapter (8) makes an important contribution towards addressing what conditions are conducive to a sense of meaning in work, which should be of special interest to industrial and organisational psychologists and personnel managers. Nakamura’s Chapter (9) redeems pride from its often negative connotations and shows it to be an important source of meaning-making in caring relationships.

I was impressed by the quality of this collection and would recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone interested in learning more about the (positive) psychology of meaning.