تنها و بدون هدف: از دست دادن زندگی به معنای ادامه طرد اجتماعی

Four studies (N = 643) supported the hypothesis that social exclusion would reduce the global perception of life as meaningful. Social exclusion was manipulated experimentally by having a confederate refuse to meet participants after seeing their videotaped introduction (Study 1) and by ostracizing participants in a computerized ball-tossing game (Study 2). Compared to control condition and acceptance conditions, social exclusion led to perceiving life as less meaningful. Exclusion was also operationalized as self-reported loneliness, which was a better predictor of low meaning than other potent variables (Study 3). Study 4 found support for Baumeister’s model of meaning (1991), by demonstrating that the effect of exclusion on meaning was mediated by purpose, value, and positive self-worth.

Where do people find meaning in life? In principle, people could find meaning in communing with nature or with divinity, engaging in philosophical or religious contemplation, pursuing scientific or artistic or technological innovation, or other potentially solitary pursuits. Life’s meaning does not obviously or inherently depend on social relations. Yet in practice, it seems likely that people find meaning in their social relations. Unlike most other animals, humans obtain much of what they need from their social group, rather than directly from the natural environment. Consequently, the human capacity for sociality and for participation in culture likely evolved to facilitate survival (Baumeister, 2005, Dunbar, 1993 and Dunbar, 1997). Hence social exclusion could threaten people at such a basic level that it would impair their sense of meaningful existence, as suggested by Williams, 1997 and Williams, 2002. A related prediction is made by Twenge, Catanese, and Baumeister (2003), who proposed that one effect of social exclusion is a retreat from meaningful thought. In the present investigation, we tested the hypothesis that social exclusion causes a global decrease in the perception of life as meaningful.