The meaning of action: Do self-regulatory processes contribute to a purposeful life?

Viewing life as purposeful is a powerful belief: in addition to positively coloring our feelings, it is associated with decreased risk of falling ill, and, ultimately, dying (Kim et al., 2013). Having valued goals infuses life with purpose (Scheier et al., 2006), suggesting that purpose is closely tied to people's self-regulation. According to Kruglanski et al. (2000), two self-regulatory processes are important: to attain our goals, we must identify what it is that we want to accomplish and how best to pursue it (assessment), and then follow through and actually do it (locomotion). Does purpose, then, emerge from moving toward one's desired outcomes, from carefully identifying and evaluating the best outcomes to pursue, or both? And could purpose be a mechanism linking people's self-regulatory tendencies to their subjective well-being? Three studies (total N = 744) showed that purpose was positively predicted by locomotion, but negatively by assessment; no interaction between locomotion and assessment was found. Moreover, purpose mediated the link between self-regulation and people's satisfaction with life. Our results imply that purpose is derived from movement and that action carries meaning.