New research explores varieties of purposes, happiness

Psychologists have known for decades that a sense of purpose brings significant benefits, both physically and psychologically. People with a strong sense of purpose tend to be healthier, to live for longer, and to suffer from lower levels of stress, depression, and addiction.

However, less attention has been paid to different types of purpose, and their effects. I recently led a research project on this topic at my university. In a new paper published in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, we report the findings of a survey of 528 people, in which we investigated whether it is possible to identify different types of purpose, and whether they had different effects. We examined how different types of purpose were associated with happiness, age and gender, and found that significant differences did exist.1
Seven Different Types of Purpose

We focused on the following seven different types of purpose (including the absence of purpose):

No purpose: A sense that life lacks direction, meaning, or an overarching goal.
Survival purpose: Focusing primarily on meeting basic needs such as food, shelter, safety, and security.
Religious purpose: Finding direction through religious faith or another established framework of meaning.
Personal-accumulative purpose: Pursuing wealth, career success, status, or achievement.
Altruistic purpose: Focusing on helping others, reducing suffering, or contributing positively to society.
Self-expansive purpose: Seeking personal growth, creativity, learning, fulfillment, and the development of one's potential.
Transpersonal purpose: Experiencing purpose as something larger than the individual—something that seems to flow through a person rather than being consciously created by them. This type of purpose is often associated with a "spiritual" orientation.

Our statistical analysis found that this seven-factor model was valid, working much better than treating all forms of purpose as a single dimension. In other words, we found that it is valid to think in terms of these seven forms of purpose.

We found that most people were oriented around one main type of purpose, even if this overlapped with other types. In our general population sample, the most common purpose was self-expansive, followed by altruistic purpose. These two types of purpose often overlapped to some degree, while a "personal-accumulative" purpose tended to be distinct.

Steve Taylor, Ph.D.
Age, Gender, and Happiness

We found some striking results in relation to age. Younger participants, particularly those aged 18–24, reported higher levels of no purpose and personal-accumulative purpose. Older age groups were less oriented around personal-accumulative purpose, while both altruistic and transpersonal purpose increased with age, peaking among participants aged 65–74. In terms of gender, we found that women were more likely to be oriented around a transpersonal and a self-expansive purpose. Perhaps this aligns with previous research showing that women tend to be more focused on spirituality than men.

The most striking findings of our study concerned happiness. Participants who reported no sense of purpose tended to report substantially lower levels of happiness. Survival purpose was also strongly negatively associated with happiness. Transpersonal purpose was strongly associated with happiness. Self-expansive purpose was linked to happiness too, although to a lesser degree. In contrast, personal-accumulative purpose—the pursuit of wealth, career success, status and achievement—was negatively associated with happiness.

The latter findings are significant in that they contradict the standard cultural assumption that happiness stems from achievement, success, and wealth. Our study found that altruism and a transpersonal purpose are much more likely to bring happiness. In other words, making accumulation and achievement the central organising purpose of life does not provide the same psychological benefits as growth, contribution or a sense of connection.
Applying the Findings

Perhaps the biggest lesson from our research is that asking someone simply, "Do you have a purpose?" may not be enough. More useful questions might be: "What kind of purpose guides your life? Are you just trying to survive? Are you following a religious calling? Are you striving for success? Are you oriented toward self-development or helping others and contributing to the world? Or is your purpose more intangible and spontaneous, guided by intuition, or a deep spiritual impulse?"

When considering these questions, we should be aware that some types of purpose are likely to bring higher levels of happiness—specifically, an altruistic, self-expansive, or transpersonal purpose. At the same time, our research suggests that, as we grow older, we will naturally move towards these types of purposes.
To a large extent, purpose is a choice. Apart from survival purpose—which is forced on us by poverty and hardship—we can choose the goals to which we devote our energy and attention. However, our findings imply that the most effective type of purpose is not voluntary. Transpersonal purpose involves a sense that purpose is being uncovered and expressed rather than created. It is a purpose that arises from letting go—not consciously directing our lives, but allowing life to flow through us in a state of trust.

*Writer: Steve Taylor, Ph.D., is senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University. He is the author of several best-selling books, including The Leap and Spiritual Science.