Features of purpose determination of meaningfulness of life in different cultures

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of purpose determination of human behavior and its connection with the meaningfulness of life. In modern psychological research the purpose determination of human behavior is considered as having a contextual character. A study was conducted to describe the contextual characteristics of goals and to identify the relationship of goals in the main life spheres with the meaningfulness of life among 143 native speakers of Russian and 150 native speakers of Chinese. As a result of correlation, factor and regression analyses, the following was established: regardless of cultural identity, the significance of a person’s goals in the main life spheres relates to the assessment of the possibilities of their achievement in his/her life situation; a person’s active life position and his/her satisfaction with his/her actual life are positively correlated with his/her life meaningfulness of life. Differences between representatives of Russian and Chinese cultures have also been revealed: in the Chinese sample, the presence of goals and the assessment of a high probability of their realization are associated with the readiness to change to achieve them, while in the Russian sample the presence of goals and a positive assessment of the situation do not ensure the propensity to change; for a native speaker of the Russian language, goals and the assessment of opportunities to achieve them have a significant impact on his sense of meaningfulness of life, while for the Chinese respondent the most important role is played by family values.