Value-Instantiating Beliefs: A Practical Substitute for Meaning

The construct of “meaning”, although commonly used by psychologists, does not have a formal operationalization. In this article I specify a construct of value-instantiating belief, intended to quantify individual differences in motivationally relevant aspects of meaning. A value-instantiating belief is a personal belief about consequences of an object, action, or event for a personal value. I describe predictors and consequences of value-instantiating beliefs, their role in attitude formation, and potential applications in research on values, intergroup relations, persuasion, and culture. Using value-instantiating beliefs to assess individual interpretations of psychological stimuli can aid in specifying and testing boundary conditions for psychological effects and improving the predictive power of psychological models. The proposed construct can further generate new research directions that address questions about meaning.