As we are affected by the presence of life's purpose

Writers, journalists and philosophers have long been thinking about the vital importance of the goal. Despite their efforts, we still do not even have a clear definition of this concept. According to the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, we can cope with almost anything, it is worth only find the target. His philosophy he described in book "To tell you the life of" Yes! ": Psychologist in a concentration camp," where, in contrast to the modern work does not mention happiness.

Psychologist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the author of the five stages of grief, said: "The fact that people live aimless lives empty, partly to blame for the denial of death. When it seems that you'll live forever, is easy to put off responsibilities for later. "

But in the words of writer George Bernard Shaw's play "Man and Superman": "The real joy of life - give ourselves the goal to which you soznaosh grandiosity; to expend all efforts before you throw in a landfill, to become one of the driving forces of nature, rather than cowardly and selfish tangle of illnesses and setbacks, offended at the world for what it is about your little Radel happiness".

All this raises more questions than it answers.

My colleague Patrick McKnight offer this definition: The goal - is the central self-organizing life aspiration.

1. This is the main component of human identity. If you are asked to arrange the characteristics of his personality on the round board, it was the desire to be near the center.
2. It specifies the systematic patterns of behavior in everyday life. And this is evident in what tasks you are currently putting much effort for them to spend, how to allocate time.

vital desire motivates a person in a certain way to spend resources and give up other options. The ultimate goals and projects - a branch of a large life aspirations. It is impossible to carry out the whole - can only be constantly directed forces on projects inspired by them.

Of course, all this is little moves us to identify their own goals. Conducted to date studies oversimplify the topic. Scientists have so far found only people who gain more points in the questionnaires of the target, more positive view of life.

We wrote a paperPurpose in life as a system that creates and sustains health and well-being: An integrative, testable theory., In which dismantled the underlying processes that explain why having a purpose in life affects the health and well-being. In it, we described the ten possible links objectives with different aspects of life.

Here is a summary of our theses:

1. Cognitive involvement. We do not believe that the goal - a prerequisite for everyday life. People without goals simply are not cognitively engaged. This is a slightly increased risk of undesirable effects: problems with mental and physical health, short life expectancy. But a long healthy life and daily existence - are not synonymous.

2. The ultimate goals. There are different theories as to why people do certain things. In our opinion, needs can be due to a higher order factor - the purpose.

Having a goal, people are more aware of their inner values, interests and aspirations.

At the same purpose in life does not necessarily imply any tangible result. But she motivates to seek smaller ultimate goals. On them you can make a partial view of the person. But to understand it in its entirety, it is necessary to analyze the higher-level factor - his main pursuit in life.

3–4. The constancy of behavior. Life purpose - stimulus constancy in behavior. It helps overcome barriers to look for alternatives and to concentrate on his intent, even when something changes in the outside world.

5–6. External environment and stress. Human interaction with the environment is very important. In certain circumstances a life goal can become unprofitable. And in some cases, such as prison, the medium may interfere with the movement to the purpose. From this person is experiencing severe stress.

The very existence of the target is likely to lead to the fact that people are increasingly aware of the psychological and physical stress (arrow 6). but stress reaction reduced when the environmental conditions are formed more successfully.

7–9. Religiosity and health. Many studies have purpose in life limited to religious and spiritual. They come to the conclusion that a high level of religiosity is associated with a high level of health. We believe that in different periods of life as the target can influence the religious beliefs and experience their influence on itself (arrow 7).

Most people are attached to religion in childhood under the influence of parents. Their beliefs are caused by education and imitation of the older, rather than internal characteristics. Therefore, early acquired a religious affiliation can form a vital goal. But after that the causal relationship is changing goal determines religiosity.

The latter is also indirectly related to the physical (arrow 8) and mental (arrow 9) health. Life goal thus serves as an intermediary between them.

10. Individual differences. There are conditions for which some simply can not have a purpose in life. The most plausible of them - reduced mental capacity. Including those caused by brain injuries, diseases (eg, dementia), or alcoholism.

A person who is incapable of understanding abstract concepts, it would be difficult to formulate the purpose. It requires insight, introspection and planning.

However, people who do not have a goal, it can live a happy and productive life. But her lack of awareness, on the contrary, can lead to suffering. It is not so rare. After all, the ability to formulate the goal does not guarantee that a person will strive for it.

One of the amazing side of science is that every study leads to new questions. And in the field of life goals, many of them still remain unanswered, such as how objectives are formed, evolve and what kind of benefit we bring.