Quiz — Chapter 28: Finding Meaning and Purpose in Work

25 multiple-choice questions covering eudaimonic versus hedonic wellbeing, work orientations, job crafting, purpose, flow, the dark side of purpose, and meaning under adverse conditions.

Multiple Choice

Question 1 Which of the following best distinguishes eudaimonic from hedonic wellbeing?

A) Eudaimonic wellbeing is based on physical health; hedonic wellbeing is based on psychological health B) Eudaimonic wellbeing involves flourishing through engagement and contribution; hedonic wellbeing involves pleasure and the absence of pain C) Eudaimonic wellbeing is shorter-term and more intense; hedonic wellbeing is longer-term and more stable D) Eudaimonic wellbeing is achievable through any activity; hedonic wellbeing requires specific life circumstances

Question 2 Baumeister and colleagues' research found that meaning and happiness:

A) Are essentially the same experience, measured differently B) Are strongly correlated and reliably produced by the same conditions C) Are related but dissociable — high-meaning activities can reduce positive affect, and high-pleasure activities can feel meaningless D) Are inversely related — the more meaningful a life, the less happy it is

Question 3 Viktor Frankl identified three sources through which meaning can be found. Which of the following is NOT among them?

A) Creative values — what we give to the world B) Social values — what we contribute to community and collective life C) Experiential values — what we receive from the world D) Attitudinal values — the stance we take toward unavoidable suffering

Question 4 Wrzesniewski's research on work orientations found that the calling orientation:

A) Is found primarily in high-prestige, high-compensation occupations B) Is determined by the content of the work itself, independently of the worker's attitude C) Can be found across all types of work, including low-status occupations, and is associated with higher engagement regardless of role D) Is correlated with higher income but not with wellbeing

Question 5 Which of the following best describes the "career orientation" toward work?

A) Relating to work as primarily a means to money and security B) Relating to work as inseparable from one's identity and purpose C) Relating to work primarily through achievement, advancement, and status D) Relating to work as a form of creative self-expression

Question 6 The chapter identifies a key vulnerability in workers with strong calling orientations. What is it?

A) They tend to have lower technical skill because they rely on passion rather than deliberate practice B) They are more likely to leave jobs quickly when conditions are not ideal C) Their intrinsic motivation makes them more vulnerable to exploitation and acceptance of poor working conditions D) They have difficulty collaborating because they are overly protective of their work

Question 7 Job crafting, as developed by Wrzesniewski and Berg, is best defined as:

A) The process of finding a new job better aligned with one's calling B) Proactively reshaping the tasks, relationships, and meaning of one's work from within an existing role C) A structured onboarding process that helps new employees find meaning in their roles D) Negotiating with managers to formally modify job descriptions

Question 8 "Cognitive crafting" as a form of job crafting involves:

A) Developing new cognitive skills relevant to the work B) Using structured problem-solving techniques to improve work efficiency C) Reconceiving the purpose or significance of one's work without necessarily changing the tasks themselves D) Analyzing the cognitive demands of the role to identify areas for improvement

Question 9 Research on the predictors of meaningful work consistently identifies which of the following as particularly important?

A) Compensation level and job prestige B) The complexity and intellectual difficulty of the work tasks C) Proximity to and visibility of the people whose lives the work affects D) The degree of creative freedom the work permits

Question 10 William Damon's definition of purpose emphasizes that genuine purpose is:

A) A temporary motivational state that requires periodic renewal B) A stable, generalized intention to accomplish something meaningful and of consequence to the world beyond the self C) Any strongly held belief about what makes life worth living D) An aspiration that can only be achieved through significant sacrifice and effort

Question 11 Terror Management Theory (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, Solomon) proposes that mortality salience:

A) Produces depression and reduced engagement with long-term goals B) Has no reliable effect on behavior because death-related thoughts are quickly suppressed C) Triggers behaviors that bolster self-esteem and cultural worldviews offering symbolic immortality D) Increases hedonistic behavior as people seek pleasure before death

Question 12 Research on the relationship between purpose and physical health has found:

A) Purpose improves psychological wellbeing but has no measurable effect on physical health outcomes B) Purpose predicts lower all-cause mortality and lower cardiovascular risk, with effects persisting after controlling for health behaviors and socioeconomic status C) The health benefits of purpose are limited to individuals over age 65 D) Purpose improves health primarily through its effects on health behavior (exercise, diet, sleep)

Question 13 The chapter describes the "purpose gap" — the feeling that one should have a clear purpose but cannot identify it. Research suggests that the most effective response to a purpose gap is:

A) Extended introspective reflection and journaling until purpose becomes clear B) Seeking professional guidance to identify latent callings C) Engaging in purposeful activity and noticing what produces felt significance, rather than waiting for clarity before acting D) Accepting that purpose may not be available and focusing on hedonic satisfaction instead

Question 14 Csikszentmihalyi's research on flow identifies the condition most necessary for entering a flow state as:

A) Complete absence of external distraction B) A challenge level at or slightly beyond the edge of current skill C) High intrinsic motivation and personal interest in the task D) A low-stress environment with adequate time for the task

Question 15 The chapter discusses Matthew Crawford's concept of the "ethics of craft." Crawford's core argument is that:

A) Manual work is more meaningful than intellectual work B) Skilled work of any kind provides access to a particular kind of meaning through genuine difficulty, direct feedback, and the satisfaction of "getting it right" C) Meaning requires tangible, physical output that can be seen and touched D) Craft ethics require that workers reject market imperatives in favor of quality

Question 16 Which of the following best describes the "relational crafting" form of job crafting?

A) Changing how you perceive the significance of your work relationships B) Building better working relationships through communication skill development C) Proactively modifying who you interact with at work and how, to increase meaningful connection D) Negotiating with your manager for more collaborative assignments

Question 17 Research on retirement transitions finds that:

A) Retirement uniformly improves wellbeing because it frees individuals from work stress B) Individuals whose professional role was their primary identity source show the steepest wellbeing decline after retiring, even when retirement is chosen C) Wellbeing in retirement is primarily predicted by financial security and health D) The transition to retirement is equally difficult regardless of work orientation

Question 18 Gheaus and Herzog's "paradox of meaningful work" refers to:

A) The fact that meaningful work is intrinsically rewarding but often practically difficult B) The tendency for meaningful work to produce overidentification and eventual burnout C) The structural tendency for meaningful work to be undervalued and poorly compensated because workers accept less when they derive non-financial meaning D) The paradox that calling-oriented workers are both more engaged and more at risk of leaving

Question 19 Michael Steger's research identifies three components of the experience of meaningful work. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

A) Significance — the sense that the work matters B) Purpose — the sense that the work connects to a broader life direction C) Recognition — the sense of being seen and valued for one's contribution D) Coherence — the sense that the work makes sense in the context of one's life

Question 20 Frankl's concept of "attitudinal values" refers to:

A) The values that shape our attitude toward our professional role B) The meaning available through the stance we take toward unavoidable suffering — the last freedom when circumstances cannot be changed C) The attitude of openness and curiosity necessary for meaningful work D) The values we express through creative and intellectual contribution

Question 21 Socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen) predicts that as perceived time horizons shorten:

A) People expand their social networks to maximize meaningful contact before death B) People prioritize informational and achievement goals over emotional goals C) People orient toward emotionally meaningful relationships and activities that feel significant and contributory D) People reduce engagement with work to focus on family and leisure

Question 22 The chapter's discussion of "exploitation of calling" warns that:

A) Organizations are generally unaware of workers' intrinsic motivation and therefore cannot exploit it B) Workers with strong callings should leave any organization that requires significant sacrifice C) Mission-driven organizations are more likely to exploit calling-oriented workers precisely because those workers are willing to absorb poor conditions D) The exploitation problem is specific to creative and artistic fields

Question 23 Which work orientation does research suggest provides the strongest motivational sustenance over time?

A) The job orientation, because it preserves work-life separation and prevents burnout B) The career orientation, because achievement goals provide continuous motivational targets C) The calling orientation, because work is experienced as inherently significant and worth sustained effort D) Research has not identified consistent differences in motivational sustenance between orientations

Question 24 The chapter describes a "martyrdom" pattern in purpose-driven workers. This refers to:

A) Sacrificing career advancement for the sake of meaningful but lower-status work B) Over-sacrifice in service of meaningful work to the point of depleting health, relationships, and other sources of meaning — an unsustainable path that often leads to burnout C) The moral obligation felt by purpose-driven workers to continue working despite unfair conditions D) The tendency for calling-oriented workers to sacrifice compensation for meaning

Question 25 Charles Taylor's concept of a "horizon of significance" refers to:

A) The time horizon within which purpose-directed action has motivational force B) The visible future toward which meaningful work is directed C) The framework of what matters within which choices have weight and meaning — the condition for any choice to feel genuinely significant rather than arbitrary D) The boundary between meaningful and meaningless work, which individuals must cross to achieve eudaimonic wellbeing

Answer Key

Short-Answer Extensions

Question 26 Distinguish between the three types of job crafting (task, relational, cognitive) and give an example of each in a professional context you know.

Model answer: Task crafting involves changing what you actually do within your role — for example, a teacher who volunteers to run an after-school debate club to incorporate a skill she cares about developing. Relational crafting involves changing who you interact with and how — for example, an analyst who seeks out regular conversations with the clients whose data they analyze, to increase visibility of the human impact of their work. Cognitive crafting involves reconceiving the purpose or significance of one's role without changing tasks or relationships — for example, a hospital administrator who reframes their work from "managing logistics" to "creating the conditions under which patients can be treated with dignity." All three operate within the existing role and represent proactive meaning-making rather than role change.

Question 27 The chapter distinguishes between a "purpose gap" (believing you should have a purpose but not finding it) and the research-based insight that purpose is discovered through action. Explain this distinction and its practical implications.

Model answer: The popular notion of purpose suggests it is a fixed, discoverable essence that exists prior to action — that one must "find" one's purpose before proceeding. Research by Wrzesniewski and others suggests a different model: purpose is cultivated through engagement — through trying activities, attending to what produces felt significance, and pursuing more of what matters. The waiting-to-find-purpose approach produces a loop: without acting, there is no data; without data, there is no felt sense of purpose; without purpose, action feels unjustified. The alternative: begin with values and interests (even imperfectly clarified), act within those, and use the experience of engagement to refine and develop purpose over time. Purpose in this model is an emergent structure, not a predetermined destination.

Question 28 What is the "paradox of meaningful work" as described by Gheaus and Herzog, and what are its individual-level implications?

Model answer: The paradox is structural: meaningful work tends to be undervalued and poorly compensated precisely because workers derive non-financial value from it. Employers (consciously or not) recognize that calling-oriented workers will accept worse material conditions in exchange for meaningful work — lower pay, longer hours, reduced benefits, fewer protections. The individual implication is that a strong calling orientation creates structural vulnerability: the very quality that makes the work sustaining also makes the worker susceptible to exploitation. The individual response is to hold purpose and material self-interest in dialogue rather than opposition — to recognize that finding work meaningful is not an argument for accepting conditions that would be refused on purely economic grounds. Loving the work and being fairly compensated for it are not contradictory goals.