Exploring Existential Meaning: Optimizing Human Development Across the Life Span [Paperback]

Both implicit and existential meaning are important constructs in fully understanding human experience. The editors of this volume present a forum for an array of viewpoints and recent research that address the notion of optimal human growth.Both implicit and existential meaning are important constructs in fully understanding human experience. The editors of this volume present a forum for an array of viewpoints and recent research that address the notion of optimal human growth.Foreword - James E Birren
Introduction - Gary T Reker and Kerry Chamberlain
PART ONE: THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL ISSUES
Philosophical Foundations of Existential Meaning - Gary M Kenyon
Meaning as Movement - Hubert J M Hermans
The Relativity of the Mind
Theoretical Perspective, Dimensions, and Measurement of Existential Meaning - Gary T Reker
PART TWO: RESEARCH ON EXISTENTIAL MEANING
Structural Components of Personal Meaning in Life and their Relationship with Death Attitudes and Coping Mechanisms in Late Adulthood - Nancy Van Ranst and Alfons Marcoen
Dimensions and Discourses of Meaning in Life - Kay O'Connor and Kerry Chamberlain
Approaching Meaning from Qualitiative Perspectives
An Inquiry into Existential Meaning - Dominique L Debats
Theoretical, Clinincal and Phenomenal Perspectives
The Personal Meaning System in a Life-Span Perspective - Freya Dittman-Kohli and Gerben J Westerhof
The Development of a Culturally Sensitive Measure of Sources of Life Meaning - Edward Prager, Rivka Savaya and Leora Bar-Tur
PART THREE: APPLICATIONS AND INTERVENTIONS
Finding Meaning in Caregivers of Persons with Alzheimer's Disease - Carol J Farran, Karen Lowe Graham and Dimitra Loukissa
African American and White Caregivers' Perspectives
Making Meaning within the Experience of Life-Threatening Illness l³/