Seminário: The Interplay of Psychological Entitlement, Age, and Gender in Meaning Making / Sociopsychological Horizons in Psychotherapy

First Presentation: “The Interplay of Psychological Entitlement, Age, and Gender in Meaning Making: An Experimental Study”, presented by Antonia Tsitseli.

Second Presentation: “Sociopsychological Horizons in Psychotherapy: Understanding Integrative Psychotherapy Through the Four Levels of Analysis”, presented by Douli Thalassochori.

Abstract

The quest for life's meaning, rooted in fundamental human motives to understand one's existence, has long posed a central epistemological challenge within psychology (Battista & Almond, 1973; Frankl, 1966; Hicks & Routledge, 2013; Steger et al., 2009; Trzebiński et al., 2020). Since the advent of existentialist thought, meaning-making has emerged as a core topic across psychological, philosophical, and psychotherapeutic discourse (Baumeister & Bushman, 2020; Costin & Vignoles, 2020; Deconchy, 2000; Galanaki et al., 2023; Hill et al., 2015; King & Hicks, 2021; Martela & Steger, 2022). This research addresses the issue through two complementary components. Initially, two correlational and two experimental studies were conducted to examine the impact of diverse forms of multi-level sociopsychological processing—and their interrelations—on the interpretive content and emotional valence attributed to "meaning in life." The findings of the present study indicate that meaning-making is a dynamic, multifaceted activity integrating personal, relational, and societal processes.

The second component is responsible for the translation of these insights into applied contexts. In accordance with the ongoing efforts to establish a connection between clinical and social psychology (Flechsenhar et al., 2022; Haslam, 2014; Sarason, 1981; Zuo et al., 2021), we propose a sociopsychological framework for content analysis in therapeutic settings. The present study is grounded in Doise's (1980) four levels of analysis, with psychotherapy reconceptualized as a socio-psychological microcosm. This model identifies thematic and latent processing structures that guide clients' sociopsychological functioning. Consequently, it enriches the assessment of personality-related change and foregrounds the social, ideological, and cultural negotiations embedded in meaning-making.