Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Psychology, 806 West Franklin Street, P.O. Box 842018, Richmond, VA 23284-2018,
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2010 Oct;36(10):1372-84. doi: 10.1177/0146167210383043. Epub 2010 Aug 30.
Research has found that a substantial portion of human cognition occurs beyond conscious awareness to satisfy the superordinate goal of maintaining meaning. Three experiments used a newly developed method to examine the features of meaning and how individuals automatically defend against threats to meaning. In Experiment 1, individuals who subliminally processed meaninglessness-related words, relative to those in a control group, reported being more religious and having more meaningful lives. Experiment 2 extended these results, as individuals whose meaning was threatened bolstered alternative domains of meaning (termed fluid compensation) by reporting higher self-esteem, need for closure, symbolic immortality, and a reduced need to belong. Experiment 3 ruled out an alternative explanation and clarified the effects of threatened meaning on one's need to belong. These findings elucidate the processes of meaning maintenance in sustaining psychological equanimity. Implications for the automatic defense of meaning are discussed.
研究发现，人类认知的很大一部分是在意识之外发生的，以满足保持意义这一更高层次的目标。三项实验采用了一种新开发的方法来检验意义的特征，以及个体如何自动防御对意义的威胁。在实验 1 中，与对照组相比，潜意识处理无意义相关词汇的个体报告称自己更虔诚，生活更有意义。实验 2 扩展了这些结果，因为那些意义受到威胁的个体通过报告更高的自尊、封闭需求、象征性不朽和减少归属感需求，来增强意义的替代领域（称为流动补偿）。实验 3 排除了另一种解释，并阐明了受到威胁的意义对归属感需求的影响。这些发现阐明了维持心理平静的意义维持过程。讨论了意义自动防御的意义。
