The association between experience of meaning in life, retrospective reports about daily states and activities, and reliance on intuition and deliberation
Creators: name: Anoschin, Albert
name: Remmers, Carina
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Psychiatry and Psychology
subject: Medicine and Health Sciences
subject: Quantitative Psychology
subject: Social and Behavioral Sciences
subject: Psychology
subject: FOS: Psychology
subject: basic psychological needs
subject: daily hassles
subject: intuition
subject: meaningfulness
subject: meaning in life
subject: need satisfaction
subject: self esteem

description: Although meaning in life can be constructed by deliberate cognition (Park, 2010), recent theoretical accounts and empirical findings emphasize the role of intuitive processes and fluctuating psychological states (e.g., positive affect) in experiencing one’s life as meaningful (Heintzelman &amp; King, 2013; King et al., 2006, 2016). Recent research suggests that, in daily life, meaning is created intuitively without conscious deliberation, for example through the satisfaction of basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness (Martela et al., 2018), and the performance of meaningful activities and routines (Eakman, 2014). The primary aim of this study is to further test these assumptions. More specifically, we aimed to explore whether the (retrospectively reported) reliance on intuition (vs. deliberation), daily activities and experiences (e.g., daily hassles), daily experienced psychological states (e.g., personality functioning, state self-esteem, reflection about meaning) are predictive of the momentary experience of meaning in life. In this study, we will test confirmatory hypotheses on the associations of momentary experience of meaning in life with (references that suggest a link between these variables are listed in parentheses): o Momentary mood (Hicks et al., 2010; King et al., 2006) o Today’s meaningfulness in daily activities (purpose, significance, coherence, experiential appreciation) (Eakman, 2014; Kim et al., 2022) o Daily hassles (Dulaney et al., 2018; Park &amp; George, 2018) o Today’s satisfaction and frustration of basic psychological needs according to Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Martela et al., 2018) o Today’s personality functioning (Remmers, Zürn, et al., 2022) o Today’s state self-esteem (Baumeister, 1991) o Today’s reliance on intuition and deliberation (Heintzelman &amp; King, 2013; Remmers, Zürn, et al., 2022) The role of reflection. Some studies suggest that heightened reflection on topics of meaning in life may be associated with negative outcomes (Cohen &amp; Cairns, 2012; Remmers, Zürn, et al., 2022), especially when reflection is accompanied by a ruminative thinking style (Newman &amp; Nezlek, 2019). However, deliberate reflection may be an adaptive strategy for some persons to construct or reinstate meaning (Park, 2010). Hill et al. (2019) even suggest that reflection is a prerequisite for experiencing meaning in life. To further explore this controversial issue, we will test the association of daily reflection about meaning in life with momentary experienced meaning in life. We will also investigate whether the reliance on deliberation is positively associated with daily reflection about meaning in life and whether more reflection about meaning in life is associated with less daily personality functioning. The role of intuition. We aim to investigate the idea that meaning and intuition are closely inter-related (Heintzelman &amp; King, 2016; Hicks et al., 2010). We realize this by associating people's reliance on their gut feelings and intuitive hunches (retrospectively reported in the evening) with their momentary experience of meaning in life. In addition, we will investigate the hypothesis that greater reliance on intuition is associated with better need satisfaction (Inbar et al., 2010; Lieberman et al., 2004; Zander-Schellenberg et al., 2019). Furthermore, we explore how a behavioral indicator of intuition, namely intuitive eating, is associated with positive mental health outcomes such as momentary experienced meaning (Ruzanska &amp; Warschburger, 2017). In addition we will explore how intuitive eating on a respective day is associated with the other daily variables (hassles, need satisfaction, personality functioning) in order to shed light on the association between intuition and mental health related variables. The role of maladaptive traits. For explorative purposes, we aim to examine how maladaptive personality traits (Kerber et al., 2022) moderate the above-mentioned associations (e.g., between daily reflection and momentary experience of meaning in life). Additionally, we will assess how other daily variables listed above are affected by maladaptive personality traits. For instance, we will test associations between maladaptive traits and reliance on intuition (vs. deliberation), and daily intuitive eating. Establishing instrument reliability. Another aim of this study is to identify measures that are suitable for economical assessments of meaning-related variables and their associates in daily diary and ecological momentary assessment study designs. Meaning in life and its subcomponents (purpose, significance, coherence) are commonly assessed with global statements such as “I understand my life’s meaning” (Steger et al., 2006) and thus treated as trait variables. Since reports on meaning in life are influenced by temporary states such as positive affect (King et al., 2006), it is conceivable that the experience of meaning in life (including the perception of purpose, significance, and coherence) fluctuates in daily life. Problematically, no validated or generally accepted measure to assess meaning in life as a temporarily fluctuating variable in daily life exists. Therefore, we aim to test a self-developed instrument (Daily Meaningfulness Scale) that operationalizes the subcomponents of meaning in life discussed in the literature (purpose, significance, coherence, experiential appreciation) with regard to daily activities and perceptions (King &amp; Hicks, 2021). In addition, we will explore the feasibility of adapting self-report instruments designed to assess stable/trait variables to the daily assessment context. Specifically, we will determine internal consistencies, item statistics and factor structures (where applicable) of: - Our self-developed developed Daily Meaningfulness Scale (based on construct definitions by Kim et al., 2022; Martela &amp; Steger, 2016) - An adapted version of the personality disorder severity scale that assesses daily personality functioning in accordance with ICD-11 (Kerber et al., 2022) - An adapted version of the translated Experience subscale of the MILM that assesses momentary experience of meaning in life (Anoschin et al., 2022; Hill et al., 2019) - A daily version of the translated Reflection subscale of the Meaning in Life Measure - A daily version of the Balanced Measure of Psychological Needs (Neubauer et al., 2018; Neubauer &amp; Voss, 2016; Sheldon &amp; Hilpert, 2012) - A daily version of the State Self-Esteem Scale Revised (Rudolph et al., 2020) - A self-developed daily reliance on intuition and deliberation scale [unpublished] - A self-developed daily hassles screener [unpublished] - A shortened daily version of the Intuitive Eating Scale (IES-2; Ruzanska &amp; Warschburger, 2017)