Contu Federico, Ellenberg Molly, Kruglanski Arie W, Pierro Antonio
"La Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
UniSR-Social.Lab, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jul 31;14:1193336. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1193336. eCollection 2023.
Drawing on Significance Quest Theory, we hypothesized that when people experience a loss of significance related to a specific life domain, they will aim to restore their significance by acting in an extreme manner in a different life domain. To test this hypothesis, we ran two cross-sectional studies using samples of employed people in romantic relationships. Study 1 tested if people experiencing a loss of significance in the romantic relationship domain were more prone to extremism at work. Study 2 tested whether people experiencing work-related significance loss were more prone to engage in obsessive relational intrusion (ORI) toward their romantic partner. Results from both studies confirmed our hypothesis, suggesting that both amorous relationships and careers are perceived as fruitful in maintaining or restoring ones' sense of personal significance, even if the original loss of significance is derived from an unrelated domain. Notably, this research represents one of the first tests of the key assumption of Significance Quest Theory entailing the substitutability of means through which one can attain or renew their sense of significance.
借鉴意义寻求理论，我们假设，当人们在特定生活领域经历意义丧失时，他们会试图通过在另一个生活领域采取极端行为来恢复自身的意义。为了验证这一假设，我们对处于恋爱关系中的在职人员样本进行了两项横断面研究。研究1检验了在恋爱关系领域经历意义丧失的人是否在工作中更容易走向极端。研究2检验了经历与工作相关的意义丧失的人是否更容易对其恋爱伴侣产生强迫性关系侵扰（ORI）。两项研究的结果均证实了我们的假设，这表明恋爱关系和职业在维持或恢复个人意义感方面都被视为富有成效，即使最初的意义丧失源自不相关的领域。值得注意的是，这项研究是对意义寻求理论关键假设的首次检验之一，该假设认为人们获得或更新意义感的方式具有可替代性。
