The Impact of Co-Creation on Life's Meaningfulness

Abstract: Despite shared reality's ubiquity and importance in life, how the process of reaching it affects life’s meaning has not been explored yet. In three studies, we examine co-creation versus simple validation of opinions in enhancing life's meaning, controlling for the experience of inner states’ commonality. Study 1 shows that more co-creation correlates with greater life meaning beyond shared reality and personality traits. Study 2, a daily diary study, reveals that daily co-creation is positively associated with life's meaning via self-efficacy. Study 3 demonstrates that recalling co-creation events provides more meaning than mere agreement, an effect self-efficacy mediates.