人生の意味への問いの諸相 : 問いのきっかけや重要性,自我体験との関連から

Abstract

The quest for the meaning of life is part of human experience. However past psychological researches on the meaning of life had not examined the question itself. The present study focused on questions about the meaning of life, and examined the trigger for quest, importance of the meaning and relationship between the question and ego-experience. In Study 1, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 164 college students. The results were as follows: (1) There were various questions which varied from the purpose of everyday life to the value of one's life to the basis of one's existence. (2) Male students quest for the meaning was more serious than the female students. (3) No relationship between the question types and the triggers for quest was found. (4) The correlation between the question and ego-experience was positive. Study 2 investigated the concrete narratives about the ego-experience through the semistructured interview with five participants. Two participants were identified as the persons with experience, and one showed the suggestive narrative about the relationship between the question and ego-experience.