ABSTRACT
Inquiry into the meaning of life goes back to antiquity from Lao Tzu (trans. 1913) to King Solomon (Ecclesiastes, New International Version). There is also a long and venerable tradition in psychology of exploring the meaning of human existence (Adler, 1931/1958; Frankl, 1963/1985; James, 1902; Jung, 1933; May, 1958) and self-actualization (Maslow, 1962; Rogers, 1980). However, empirical studies of meaning have been very recent (Wong & Fry, 1998). Psychologists have long theorized about the functions of meaning in human adaptation and flourishing, but the development of instruments to measure meaning in life has been hampered by the difficulty of operationally defining the meaning construct.
