Something to Live For: Lessons from the Science of Purpose

In one of Kurt Vonnegut’s stories, God leaves it to humans to think of a purpose for everything, including "all this." Purpose both gives us something to live for and provides the foundation to pursue that something. In our day-to-day lives, in ways big and small, we experience the truth of what philosophers have long posited: the why leads us to the how.

In psychology, purpose is defined as “a central, self-organizing life aim that organizes and stimulates goals, manages behaviors, and provides a sense of meaning.” When our lives are guided by an overarching sense of purpose, we reap a wealth of benefits for our physical and mental health – from greater life satisfaction to a slower cognitive decline.

What are some of the common places where humans find their purpose?

As a poignant reminder of our shared humanity, we tend to derive purpose from similar sources despite the remarkable diversity of our lives.

The Pillars of a Good Life

A recent study explored the various sources from which humans find purpose and then mapped them onto the three fundamental pillars of a good life: happiness, meaning, psychological richness. The authors sought to understand how having different kinds of purpose predicted these three dimensions of a good life. From an initial pool of over 2000 open-ended responses from US participants, Mask et al. (2025) identified 16 common sources of purpose in life.

Source: Marianna Pogosyan/Mask et al., 2025

• Self-improvement – Becoming the best version of yourself through acquiring knowledge, exploration, pursuit of hobbies.
• Family – Providing for your family; having children; looking after your loved ones.
• Relationships – Forming and nurturing close connections with others, including friends and romantic partners.
• Religion/Spirituality – Living in alignment with your religious or spiritual beliefs and values.
• Recognition – Earning respect and recognition from others; having high social standing in professional, community or peer settings.
• Happiness – Taking pleasure in and enjoying life, being happy, feeling good.
• Self-sufficiency – Having the capacity to take care of yourself physically and financially; being free to choose your own path.
• Material Wealth – Accumulating wealth and material possessions; “buying whatever you want.”
• Internal Standards – Living in accordance with your personal principles, beliefs and values; “knowing who you are” and demonstrating authenticity.
• Positive Impact – “Making the world a better place.” Engaging in actions that promote charitable, political, environmental or scientific betterment.
• Mattering – Creating a lasting contribution and legacy; inspiring others; leaving an impact.
• Occupational Fulfillment – Discovering a sense of purpose and calling through work; excelling at your work.
• Persevering – Coping well with life’s challenges and persevering through adversity.
• Physical Health – Prioritizing caring for your physical health and body.
• Inner Peace – Cultivating gratitude, acceptance, mindfulness, and emotion regulation and savouring positive experiences.
• Service – Contributing to the well-being of others in your community; serving others and honoring your responsibilities.

Purpose and the good life across cultures

To assess how effectively the various sources of purpose predict the three dimensions of a good life, Mask at al. (2025) enlisted participants from 4 countries — the United States, Poland, Japan, and India. Despite the moderate distance on key cultural dimensions (e.g., individualism-collectivism, tightness-looseness), participants across the 4 cultures were remarkably similar in the way they endorsed the different sources of purpose in a good life.

For example, among the key results that the authors found was that Happiness, Self-Sufficiency and Family were in the top 5 sources of purpose for each country, while Religion/Spirituality and Recognition were in the bottom 5 for each.

Correlation analyses between each source of purpose and the three dimensions of a good life, conducted separately for each country, yielded key findings in cross-cultural similarities and differences.

Purpose and a Meaningful Life

Across cultures, the top sources of purpose that were highly predictive of a meaningful life included Mattering, Perseverance, and Service. Moreover, despite being among the least frequently endorsed sources of purpose, Religion/Spirituality also emerged as a strong predictor of meaning in life. On the other hand, Happiness, Self-Sufficiency, and Material Wealth were ranked among the bottom-5 sources of purpose across all cultures.

Among the culturally unique findings, Internal Standards ranked as a top predictor of a meaningful life in India – a pattern not observed elsewhere. Japan stood out in 2 ways: Unlike individuals from other countries, the Japanese participants ranked Occupation as a top predictor for a meaningful life, and Religion/Spirituality among the lowest. Poland was also unique by ranking Family as their second-strongest predictor of a meaningful life.

Purpose and a Happy Life

Inner Peace was the overall top predictor for happiness across cultures, followed by Positive Impact, Physical Health, and Happiness. Meanwhile, Material Wealth, Family, Self-Sufficiency, and Occupation were among least-predictive sources of purpose for a happy life.

For cross-cultural differences, Occupation was strongly linked to a happy life in Japan (but not in other countries); Internal Standards ranked the top predictor of happiness in India (but not in other countries); Mattering ranked toward the bottom in Japan but was a top-5 predictor of happiness in the other countries.

Cross-Cultural Psychology Essential Reads

Why Immigrant Children Can Feel Pressured to Preserve the Family Culture

What the World Cup Can Teach Us About Cultural Humility

Purpose and a Psychological Rich Life

Across cultures, Service ranked at the top as a predictor of a psychologically rich life. Other sources of purpose that were highly predictive of psychological richness were Mattering, Self-Improvement, and Relationships. On the other hand, Material Wealth, Self-Sufficiency, Family, and Happiness contributed least to a psychologically rich life.

As for culturally unique patterns, Internal Standards and Material Wealth were stronger predictors of psychological richness in India than in other countries. In Japan, Occupation emerged as the second top predictor, but ranked below the midpoint elsewhere.

“Despite uncovering a few intriguing cross-cultural differences, we generally found that people in diverse cultural contexts are remarkably similar in the degree to which they endorsed these 16 distinct sources,” concluded the study authors. Their findings shed light on how these sources predict the three dimensions of a good life – meaning, happiness and psychological richness – across cultures.

This deeply human preoccupation with purpose may be what helps us make life glorious under sunny spells and bearable during unthinkable storms. Perhaps, on closer inspection, an invisible thread runs through all our different sources of purpose – one that, in the end, has to do with having, in some way, positively touched other lives; as Emerson observed, “to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

Stephanie Harrison’s illustration captures this sentiment beautifully.

Source: New Happy/Stephanie Harrison