1st Edition
The Routledge International Handbook of Human Significance and Mattering
This innovative book addresses the need for significance and mattering as a universal human motivation. It examines the impact of significance and mattering, considering how they manifest across our lifespan and in different parts of our lives.
Written by a team of eminent authors with expertise in diverse psychological fields, the book explores how significance and mattering extend to almost all social domains, including families, schools, colleges, groups, workplaces, communities, and nations. The book is divided into four main parts, which consider the impact of significance and mattering across the life span, across life domains, across societies and cultures, and in mental health. The chapters outline how significance and mattering power race and gender politics, shape attitudes toward immigration, drive violent extremism, and underlie mental health issues, such as loneliness, and narcissism. The book considers the quest for significance as a fundamental motive in our personal interactions and in how society operates as a whole.
Providing a truly comprehensive coverage of a ubiquitous psychological dynamic that affects all aspects of our lives, this book will be highly relevant for researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in psychology, social sciences, education, social work, and therapeutic professions. In addition, the book should appeal to organizational, political, and community leaders and the general public interested in human behavior and social problems.
Table of Contents
List of Contributors
List of Figures
List of Tables
Part 1: Introduction
1 The Supreme Human Quest- Arie W. Kruglanski, Isaac Prilleltensky, and Amiram Raviv
Part 2: Significance and Mattering Across the Lifespan
2 Mattering in Childhood: A Developmental Attachment Perspective- Jessica A. Stern and Jude Cassidy
3 Mattering, Self-Esteem, and First-Generation College Students- Gregory C. Elliott, Emily J. Siff, and Jardelle Johnson
4 An Attachment Perspective on the Quest for Significance And Mattering- Mario Mikulincer and Phillip R. Shaver
5 Significance And Mattering in Late Adulthood- Jessie Dezutter and Laura Dewitte
6 A Terror Management Theory Perspective on the Human Needs For Self-Esteem, Meaning, Close Relationships, and Significance- Tom Pyszcynski and Jonathan Morgan
Part 3: Significance And Mattering Across Life Domains
7 The Quest For Significance and Mattering in Education- Maurice J. Elias, Danielle R. Hatchimonji, Samuel J. Nayman, and Arielle C.V. Linsky
8 Mattering and Work- David L. Blustein, Camille M. Smith, Karley Guterres, and Brenda Tsai
9 Communities: Sites, Sources, and Subjects of Significance- Michael P. Scarpa
Part 4: Significance and Mattering Across Societies and Cultures
10 Making “Us” Matter: Social Identity, Leadership, and Collective Agency- Katherine J. Reynolds, Emina Subašić, Benjamin Jones, and Haochen Zhou
11 Gender, Significance, and Mattering- Amanda B. Diekman, Andrew D. White, and Samantha L. Heiman
12 “Good Trouble”: Nonviolent Activism and the Quest for Psychological Significance in a Racialized Society- Angela P. Cole-Dixon and Cynthia E. Winston-Proctor
13 Significance Quest and International Relations: On the Psychology of Foreign Affairs- Markéta Kocmanová, Karl Kaltenthaler, and Arie W. Kruglanski
14 Love, Motivated: Partner Merit And Appreciation as Sources of Significance- Molly Ellenberg, Arie W. Kruglanski, Ewa Szumowska, and Huixian Yu
15 Significance: The Missing Link Between Frustration and Aggression- Molly Ellenberg, Arie W. Kruglanski and Brad J. Bushman
16 Mattering as Citizens: Conditions- Isaac Prilleltensky, Michael P. Scarpa, Salvatore Di Martino, Dina von Heimburg, and Ottar Ness
17 Mattering as Citizens: Correlates and Consequences- Michael P. Scarpa, Salvatore Di Martino, Dina von Heimburg, Ottar Ness, and Isaac Prilleltensky
18 Gaining and Maintaining Significance: The Role of Group Membership- John M. Levine and Dominic Abrams
19 Significance and Mattering in Migration- David Webber, Erica Molinario, Katarzyna Jasko, and Arie W. Kruglanski
20 Down The Yellow Brick Road: How Socialization Through Early Narratives Shapes the Quest for Significance- Sophia Moscalenko
Part 5: Significance and Mattering in Mental Health
21 Self-Worth in Mental Health: At the Intersection of Mattering and Significance- Melissa Hagan, Brianna Hernandez, and Abigail W. Batchelder
22 Conservation of Resources Theory and Traumatic Stress Placed in the Context of Meaning Making: An Evolutionary Ecological Perspective- Steve Hobfoll and Wai Kai Hou
23 The Narcissism Spectrum Through the Prism of Significance-Quest Theory- Amiram Raviv, Ami Sha'ked, and Darya Maoz
24 Feelings of Not Mattering Among Lonely People: Is the Loneliness Epidemic Due to an Epidemic of Feeling Insignificant? - Gordon L. Flett, Alison L. Rose, and Joel O. Goldberg
25 Conclusion: Lessons Learned and Practical Applications- Isaac Prilleltensky, Amiram Raviv, and Arie W. Kruglanski
Biography
Arie W. Kruglanski is Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland, USA.
Isaac Prilleltensky is the Erwin and Barbara Mautner Chair in Community Well-Being at the University of Miami, USA.
Amiram Raviv is a school and clinical psychologist. He is Professor Emeritus at the School of Psychological Sciences at Tel Aviv University, Israel.
The universal human quest for significance and mattering is insightfully explored in this rich, expansive, and very well-crafted collection; I highly recommend it to psychology students, researchers, teachers, and practitioners.
Fathali M. Moghaddam, author of The Psychology of Multiculturalism, Assimilation, and Omniculturalism
