Browsing by Author "Partanen, Hanna"

Aim. Meaningfulness is an important aspect of well-being. It is closely connected with zest for life and resilience, and in a long run, it is a stronger predictor for psychological well-being than happiness. As self-determination theory applies to meaningfulness, meaningfulness can be seen as satisfaction of the three needs presented by self-determination theory: autonomy, competence and relatedness. Only relatedness has previously been experimentally detected to have an effect on meaningfulness. In this study we examine the relationship between autonomy satisfaction and meaningfulness. We also examine the impact of our intervention on autonomy satisfaction. Experimentally we examine the impact of the intervention on meaningfulness. We also examine the impact of availability of true self-concept on autonomy satisfaction and meaningfulness. Method. The data was collected during spring and summer 2018 using a web based form. The link was distributed in social media, and participating was voluntary. The experiment group received an intervention that increase autonomy satisfaction. Intervention covered a writing task that required the subjects to write as many intrinsically motivating activities as possible in restricted time. The control group received a pseudo-intervention. The respondents filled questionnaires assessing autonomy satisfaction and meaningfulness in life. Both experimental and control forms gathered 248 subjects, altogether 496 subjects. All connections were examined with regression analysis. Results. Autonomy fulfillment was connected to meaningfulness. Intervention was connected to autonomy. Intervention did not have a connection with reported meaningfulness. The accessibility of the true self was not connected to reported autonomy or reported meaningfulness. Conclusions. Even if autonomy was connected to meaningfulness, the experimental results were contradictory with the hypotheses. Availability of the true self was not connected with meaningfulness or autonomy satisfaction. These results are discussed. It seems that the process through which autonomy satisfaction impacts meaningfulness is less straightforward than the hypotheses suggested.