When loss is gain: the mediational role of assimilation in holistic thinking and meanings made

• Main Author: Liu, Yanru
• Other Authors: Albert Lee Kai Chung
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Social Sciences; Loss; Holistic thinking; Assimilation; Meanings made
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/175538
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Anecdotal and empirical evidence converge on the prevalence of meaning-making in stressful events. Research on the antecedents to meaning-making also revealed the causal role of holistic thinking. Yet, little is known about the exact kind of meaning-making process induced by holistic thinking, and whether such process leads to meanings made. Assimilation is a meaning-making process whereby the situational meaning of a stressful event is reappraised to integrate into one’s global meaning. The present research hypothesised that in the context of a loss, holistic thinking induces assimilation of the loss, which in turn elicits meanings made from the loss. An experimental-causal-chain design involving two pre-registered studies tested this hypothesis. An image-based story-generation task manipulated holistic thinking, eliciting the choice of puzzle diagrams representing stronger assimilation (Study 1). The same puzzle representation manipulated assimilation, inducing the construction of more meaning-related words (Study 2). Results were unexplained by demographic factors namely age, gender, education level, cultural background, religion (Studies 1-2), and personality traits (Study 2). Findings support the hypothesised causal relations between holistic thinking, assimilation, and meanings made. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as future directions, are discussed.