The DOI matches its Crossref record; 181 of the 181 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Meaning Maintenance Model: On the Coherence of Social Motivations
Abstract
The meaning maintenance model (MMM) proposes that people have a needfor meaning; that is, a need to perceive events through a prism of mental representations of expected relations that organizes their perceptions of the world. When people's sense of meaning is threatened, they reaffirm alternative representations as a way to regain meaning-a process termedfluid compensation. According to the model, people can reaffirm meaning in domains that are differentfrom the domain in which the threat occurred. Evidenceforfluid compensation can be observed following a variety of psychological threats, including most especially threats to the self, such as self-esteem threats, feelings of uncertainty, interpersonal rejection, and mortality salience. People respond to these diverse threats in highly similar ways, which suggests that a range of psychological motivations are expressions of a singular impulse to generate and maintain a sense of meaning.
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“The creation and maintenance of meaning comprises a sense of self-continuity, a connection between the self, others and the environment (Baumeister and Vohs, 2002; Heine et al., 2006), and the feeling that one’s existence matters.”
From Collective Trauma and the Social Construction of Meaning (2018) · cites this paper as Heine et al., 2006
In the citing paper
“When a sense of meaning is threatened, the individual may compensate for an inability to reach one set of goals by shifting effort toward another set (known as fluid compensation; Heine et al., 2006; Proulx, 2012).”
From Extension of the Transdiagnostic Model to Focus on Intolerance of Uncertainty: A Review of the Literature and Implications for Treatment (2014) · cites this paper as Heine et al., 2006
In the citing paper
“Heine, Proulx, and Vohs (2006) proposed that the superordinate goal of humans is to generate a life with meaning.”
From Extension of the Transdiagnostic Model to Focus on Intolerance of Uncertainty: A Review of the Literature and Implications for Treatment (2014) · cites this paper as Heine, Proulx, and Vohs, 2006
In the citing paper
“Psychological models, such as the uncertainty-identity theory [156], meaning maintenance model [157], and compensatory control theory [158,159], have elaborated on how the defensive need to alleviate uncertainty leads to group identification, ideological inflexibility, and dogmatism.”
From Impact of Media-Induced Uncertainty on Mental Health: Narrative-Based Perspective. (2025) · cites this paper as [157]
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Richins, M. L. (2017) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2017.07.006 · Cited by 201
Whatever happened to "What might have been"? Regrets, happiness, and maturity.
King, L. A., & Hicks, J. A. (2007) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.62.7.625 · Cited by 206
Newheiser, A., Farias, M., & Tausch, N. (2011) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.08.011 · Cited by 191
“…may function as a potential way of coping with death-related anxiety and the associated threat to meaning and control (Greenberg et al., 1997; Heine et al., 2006) by providing explanations for phenomena that are otherwise difficult to understand or to incorporate into one’s wider belief…”
BackgroundWeststrate, N. M., & Glück, J. (2017) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/dev0000286 · Cited by 210
Psychology, meaning making, and the study of worldviews: Beyond religion and non-religion.
Taves, A., Asprem, E., & Ihm, E. D. (2018) · Psychology of Religion and Spirituality · doi:10.1037/rel0000201 · Cited by 206
“The meaning maintenance model (Heine et al., 2006) describes the compensatory strategies that are used to restore a sense of familiarity and consistency in the event of a “meaning violation,” when events violate expectations.”
BackgroundKofta, M., Soral, W., & Bilewicz, M. (2020) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspa0000183 · Cited by 182
Finding Meaning With Creativity in the Past, Present, and Future
Kaufman, J. C. (2018) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691618771981 · Cited by 198
“This act of balancing across needs is called fluid compensation (Heine et al., 2006).”
BackgroundInfluentialOn Boredom and Social Identity
van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Igou, E. R. (2011) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167211418530 · Cited by 182
Psychological Vulnerabilities and Propensities for Involvement in Violent Extremism
Borum, R. (2014) · Behavioral Sciences & the Law · doi:10.1002/bsl.2110 · Cited by 186
“Numerous studies have found that nearly every human, across cultures, has a deep and profound psychological need to create a sense of personal meaning and significance (Heine, Proulx, & Vohs, 2006; Hogg, 2007; Klinger, 1998; Mendoza-Denton & Hansen, 2007; Park, 2010).”
The mismanaged soul: Existential labor and the erosion of meaningful work
Bailey, C., Madden, A., Alfes, K., Shantz, A. D., & Soane, E. (2016) · Human Resource Management Review · doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2016.11.001 · Cited by 182
“Individuals are strongly motivated to build and maintain a sense of meaningfulness and to avoid feeling alienated from the rest of the world (Heine et al., 2006), and hence there is a primary drive to eliminate or control the sense that work is lacking in meaningfulness.”
Brain mechanisms in religion and spirituality: An integrative predictive processing framework
van Elk, M., & Aleman, A. (2016) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.12.031 · Cited by 191
“This could potentially be studied by incorporating methods from social psychology for instance, such as meaning-threat violations [178], terror-management manipulations [179] or manipulating participants’ feelings of control [180] to investigate how participants respond at a behavioral and neurocognitive level to ‘hig…”
From what might have been to what must have been: Counterfactual thinking creates meaning.
Kray, L. J., George, L. G., Liljenquist, K. A., Galinsky, A. D., Tetlock, P. E., & Roese, N. J. (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0017905 · Cited by 175
The Making of Violent Extremists
Kruglanski, A. W., Jaśko, K., Webber, D. J., Chernikova, M., & Molinario, E. (2018) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/gpr0000144 · Cited by 206
“…with other findings demonstrating that certain meaning frameworks may appeal to some because of their coherence and clarity, and thus higher possible epistemic rewards (Hogg & Adelman, 2013; Heine et al., 2006; Hogg, Meehan, & Farquharson, 2010; Maoz & McCauley, 2008; Proulx & Inzlicht, 2012).”
BackgroundResultEncounters With Objective Coherence and the Experience of Meaning in Life
Heintzelman, S. J., Trent, J., & King, L. A. (2013) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797612465878 · Cited by 193
“A second approach, grounded in the meaningmaintenance model (MMM; Heine et al., 2006), focuses not on subjective ratings but on how violations of expectancies influence meaning-relevant behaviors.”
Metadata
- Authors
- Heine, S. J., Proulx, T., & Vohs, K. D.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2006-05
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 88-110
- ISSN
- 1088-8683 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-7957
- OpenAlex
- W2156155183
- Cited by
- 1,437
- References
- 180
- Citations by year
- 2026: 108 · 2025: 106 · 2024: 92 · 2023: 90 · 2022: 101 · 2021: 100 · 2020: 123 · 2019: 86 · 2018: 60 · 2017: 73 · 2016: 62 · 2015: 74 · 2014: 75 · 2013: 72 · 2012: 61
- FWCI
- 2.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Personality and Social Psychology Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01mh060155-04)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH060155-01A2)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- need for meaning, psychological threat, self-esteem threat, uncertainty, interpersonal rejection, mortality salience, social motivation, meaning maintenance
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Motivation, Self Concept, Semantics, Social Behavior, Symbolism
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