Helping others has an existential function: The relationship between prosociality and meaning in life

© 2021 Brodie DakinMeaning in life is a core aspect of psychological well-being. For this reason, finding meaning is highly desired, and identifying the practices that enable the experience of meaning is an important avenue of research. In this thesis, I sought to unpack how prosociality is relevant to meaning in life, including how prosociality is related to experiencing meaning (Chapters II and III), and how searching for meaning is related to prosociality (Chapters IV and V). In Chapter II, I completed a systematic review of the prosociality—meaning relationship and found that prosociality and meaning are generally positively related in the existing empirical literature. Chapter III extended this with two daily diary studies (Studies 1-2) examining how prosociality in everyday life was related to experiencing meaning and happiness. Study 1 found that within-person increases in subjective prosociality were associated with experiencing greater meaning and happiness on the same day. Study 2 found that self-reported prosocial acts were also significantly associated with increases in daily meaning, but were less robustly associated with happiness. Results from Chapters II and III complement findings from a growing literature suggesting that prosociality is a robust ‘source of meaning’ in life. In Chapter III (Studies 3-7), I extended from this premise and examined whether searching for meaning is linked with prosociality, particularly for prosocial acts that are costly for the self. Across these studies, searching for meaning was positively related to the motivation to perform costly prosocial behaviours, and to reporting enactment of costly prosocial behaviours in the recent past. Meaning-seekers were also shown to have stronger intentions toward costlier prosocial acts compared to less-costly alternatives (Studies 5-6). Further, it was found that, unlike meaning-seeking, pursuing happiness was not clearly linked with costly prosociality (Studies 4-5). Finally, in Chapter V, I re-analysed data from Study 2 using a daily search for meaning measure, and showed that on days when a person experiences an increased need to seek meaning, they become more likely to perform a prosocial act. In summary, the thesis’ findings suggest that performing prosocial actions is associated with experiencing greater meaning in life, and that searching for meaning is linked to prosocial behaviour, particularly when costly for the self