Peter Ebersole
Biographic Data
| ID | 5454713 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Peter Ebersole |
| GIVEN NAMES | Peter |
| FAMILY NAME | Ebersole |
| SIGNATURE | EBERSOLE P |
| AFFILIATIONS | California State University, Fullerton |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1970 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Contributions to Psychohistory
Conrad's fictional character Jim's meaning in life is employed as an illustration of the application of DeVogler-Ebersole and Ebersole's scoring system for depth of meaning in life and their method for categorization of different types of meaning in life. Finally, the following issues are briefly covered: future research, an alternative conceptualization of Jim, and the failure of current measures of meaning in life depth to take into considerati…
Young Children's Meaning in Life
A decade ago DeVogler and Ebersole reported that young adolescents were able to express the fact that they had personal meaning in their lives. In the present study we found that even younger children (26 first graders) could do so also when personal meaning was defined to them as that which in their whole life is most important to them. The high frequency of those reporting a personal meaning goes against the position that a large percentage of …
Categories of Life Meaning for Service Organization Volunteers
Student volunteers in a service organization (13 men, 21 women) selected Growth as their central life meaning much more frequently than did a comparable group of nonvolunteers (30 men, 76 women), a result with implications for recruitment of volunteers for nonprofit organizations. Why their personal life meanings seemed richer to the evaluator than those of their nonvolunteer peers is discussed in relation to planned research
The Short Index of Self-Actualization and Purpose in Life
Jones and Crandall's recently developed Short Index of Self-actualization was statistically significantly correlated .49 ( n = 46) with a measure of purpose in life, thereby providing further construct validation for the former measure
The Short Index of Self-Actualization and Purpose in Life
Meaning in Life Depth
A rating system for measuring meaning in life depth, the Meaning in Life Depth instrument (MILD), is described after clarification of some of the ambiguity surrounding the phrase, "meaning in life." To promote a more idiographic perspective, a number of examples are given concerning how statements by respondents about their life meanings are scored using the criteria of the MILD, and some problems and complexities of the scoring are discussed. Fi…
Bias in Meaning in Life Ratings
A measure of depth of meaning in life, the Meaning in Life Depth instrument (MILD), was checked for two possible sources of bias in the depth ratings made by 113 college student-judges. The judges rated for depth of meaning 10 essays written by other individuals. The judges also indicated the categories of meaning they personally most preferred. The judges' ratings of the 10 essays were then matched with their own categories of meaning preference…
Purpose in Life Test
The 20 multiple-choice items of Part A of Crumbaugh and Maholick's (1969) Purpose in Life test to date have been the most popular means of obtaining an estimate of the intensity or depth of one's meaning in life. In strong contrast, Part B (13 sentence-completion items asking about one's purpose) and Part C (the request to write a paragraph about your aims, ambitions, and goals in and to assess progress toward reaching these) have been ignored. W…
Depth of Meaning in Life
The present study is a development of a method of measuring meaning in life depth using outside judges' rating of the participants' in-depth statements describing their meaning. Adequate interrater agreement was obtained when five explicit depth of meaning criteria were utilized. The potential problem of rater bias because of the judges' preference for their own life meanings was discussed. In addition, three other issues previously investigated …
Depth of Meaning in Life
Young Adolescents' Meaning in Life
Past research on peoples' self-reports of their meaning in life has not included those below college age. In contrast, the present study focused on such reports by 116 young adolescents. We found that the percentage seeming to understand what meaning in life was and able coherently to discuss their own was just as high as that found in older groups. Second, the types of meaning reported differed sufficiently from those of college students and oth…
Adults' Meaning in Life
The present study, by using 96 subjects ranging in age from 30 to 80 yr., set out to extend knowledge about meaning in life content areas of college students to the entire adult life span. The subjects were asked to write about, rank in order, and give an example of each of the three strongest meanings in their life. High interrater reliability (91% agreement) was achieved in categorizing the essays on meaning. Only 3% reported no meaning. The ca…
Categorization of College Students' Meaning of Life
This study was designed to develop meaning-in-life categories which have adequate interrater reliability and stability over time. Also of interest were the categories which college students endorsed and the number of students who reported no meaning in life. A pilot study was used to develop appropriate categories. 100 students from a State University class were asked to write about the three most meaningful things in their lives and then ranked …
Imitation and Prior Classroom Contact as Determinants of Reciprocal Self-Disclosure
The reciprocity effect in self-disclosure research was tested by controlling for the effects of content imitation and prior degree of contact with the experimenter. Written self-disclosures and objective checklist responses were obtained from 165 subjects on a questionnaire soliciting their reasons for reading non-assigned books. The experimenter disclosed in writing to half the subjects his reasons for reading non-assigned books (these reasons m…
Impact of Literary Works upon College Students
The present study attempted to provide empirical evidence for what type of impact, if any, is reported by college students concerning their reading of literary works they consider important. The effects reported were grouped into three major categories: no effect, behavioral effects, and cognitive effects, the latter being the most frequently reported. The results provide support for both the aesthetic (style-oriented) and moralistic (content-ori…
Effects and Classification of Peak Experiences
Maslow has presented two differing views related to the effects of peak experiences. He first stated that they inevitably had lasting effects but later maintained that peaks may produce no positive benefits beyond the transitory effects of pleasure during the experience itself. From a sample of 83 peaks submitted by 78 college students, 55% of the protocols seemed to record no lasting effects, thus supporting Maslow's later position. In addition,…
Effects of Nadir Experiences
Experimental studies of positive growth have generally neglected the possibility that painful (nadir) experiences can have beneficial effects. Between 36% and 44% of 36 state college students reported basically positive effects resulting from their nadir experiences. Also, 39% of the Ss stated that nadir effects were more important than peak (most wonderful, happy experiences) effects. These data provide support for Maslow's contention that suffe…
Meaning in Life Depth
A rating system for measuring meaning in life depth, the Meaning in Life Depth instrument (MILD), is described after clarification of some of the ambiguity surrounding the phrase, "meaning in life." To promote a more idiographic perspective, a number of examples are given concerning how statements by respondents about their life meanings are scored using the criteria of the MILD, and some problems and complexities of the scoring are discussed. Fi…
Effects of Nadir Experiences
Experimental studies of positive growth have generally neglected the possibility that painful (nadir) experiences can have beneficial effects. Between 36% and 44% of 36 state college students reported basically positive effects resulting from their nadir experiences. Also, 39% of the Ss stated that nadir effects were more important than peak (most wonderful, happy experiences) effects. These data provide support for Maslow's contention that suffe…
Effects and Classification of Peak Experiences
Maslow has presented two differing views related to the effects of peak experiences. He first stated that they inevitably had lasting effects but later maintained that peaks may produce no positive benefits beyond the transitory effects of pleasure during the experience itself. From a sample of 83 peaks submitted by 78 college students, 55% of the protocols seemed to record no lasting effects, thus supporting Maslow's later position. In addition,…
Impact of Literary Works upon College Students
The present study attempted to provide empirical evidence for what type of impact, if any, is reported by college students concerning their reading of literary works they consider important. The effects reported were grouped into three major categories: no effect, behavioral effects, and cognitive effects, the latter being the most frequently reported. The results provide support for both the aesthetic (style-oriented) and moralistic (content-ori…
Imitation and Prior Classroom Contact as Determinants of Reciprocal Self-Disclosure
The reciprocity effect in self-disclosure research was tested by controlling for the effects of content imitation and prior degree of contact with the experimenter. Written self-disclosures and objective checklist responses were obtained from 165 subjects on a questionnaire soliciting their reasons for reading non-assigned books. The experimenter disclosed in writing to half the subjects his reasons for reading non-assigned books (these reasons m…
Categorization of College Students' Meaning of Life
This study was designed to develop meaning-in-life categories which have adequate interrater reliability and stability over time. Also of interest were the categories which college students endorsed and the number of students who reported no meaning in life. A pilot study was used to develop appropriate categories. 100 students from a State University class were asked to write about the three most meaningful things in their lives and then ranked …
Adults' Meaning in Life
The present study, by using 96 subjects ranging in age from 30 to 80 yr., set out to extend knowledge about meaning in life content areas of college students to the entire adult life span. The subjects were asked to write about, rank in order, and give an example of each of the three strongest meanings in their life. High interrater reliability (91% agreement) was achieved in categorizing the essays on meaning. Only 3% reported no meaning. The ca…
Depth of Meaning in Life
Young Adolescents' Meaning in Life
Past research on peoples' self-reports of their meaning in life has not included those below college age. In contrast, the present study focused on such reports by 116 young adolescents. We found that the percentage seeming to understand what meaning in life was and able coherently to discuss their own was just as high as that found in older groups. Second, the types of meaning reported differed sufficiently from those of college students and oth…
Depth of Meaning in Life
The present study is a development of a method of measuring meaning in life depth using outside judges' rating of the participants' in-depth statements describing their meaning. Adequate interrater agreement was obtained when five explicit depth of meaning criteria were utilized. The potential problem of rater bias because of the judges' preference for their own life meanings was discussed. In addition, three other issues previously investigated …
Purpose in Life Test
The 20 multiple-choice items of Part A of Crumbaugh and Maholick's (1969) Purpose in Life test to date have been the most popular means of obtaining an estimate of the intensity or depth of one's meaning in life. In strong contrast, Part B (13 sentence-completion items asking about one's purpose) and Part C (the request to write a paragraph about your aims, ambitions, and goals in and to assess progress toward reaching these) have been ignored. W…
Bias in Meaning in Life Ratings
A measure of depth of meaning in life, the Meaning in Life Depth instrument (MILD), was checked for two possible sources of bias in the depth ratings made by 113 college student-judges. The judges rated for depth of meaning 10 essays written by other individuals. The judges also indicated the categories of meaning they personally most preferred. The judges' ratings of the 10 essays were then matched with their own categories of meaning preference…
The Short Index of Self-Actualization and Purpose in Life
Jones and Crandall's recently developed Short Index of Self-actualization was statistically significantly correlated .49 ( n = 46) with a measure of purpose in life, thereby providing further construct validation for the former measure
The Short Index of Self-Actualization and Purpose in Life
Meaning in Life Depth
A rating system for measuring meaning in life depth, the Meaning in Life Depth instrument (MILD), is described after clarification of some of the ambiguity surrounding the phrase, "meaning in life." To promote a more idiographic perspective, a number of examples are given concerning how statements by respondents about their life meanings are scored using the criteria of the MILD, and some problems and complexities of the scoring are discussed. Fi…
Categories of Life Meaning for Service Organization Volunteers
Student volunteers in a service organization (13 men, 21 women) selected Growth as their central life meaning much more frequently than did a comparable group of nonvolunteers (30 men, 76 women), a result with implications for recruitment of volunteers for nonprofit organizations. Why their personal life meanings seemed richer to the evaluator than those of their nonvolunteer peers is discussed in relation to planned research
Contributions to Psychohistory
Conrad's fictional character Jim's meaning in life is employed as an illustration of the application of DeVogler-Ebersole and Ebersole's scoring system for depth of meaning in life and their method for categorization of different types of meaning in life. Finally, the following issues are briefly covered: future research, an alternative conceptualization of Jim, and the failure of current measures of meaning in life depth to take into considerati…
Young Children's Meaning in Life
A decade ago DeVogler and Ebersole reported that young adolescents were able to express the fact that they had personal meaning in their lives. In the present study we found that even younger children (26 first graders) could do so also when personal meaning was defined to them as that which in their whole life is most important to them. The high frequency of those reporting a personal meaning goes against the position that a large percentage of …
Psychology (17 works) · Social Psychology (15 works) · Social Psychology (15 works) · Psychotherapist (11 works) · Developmental psychology (10 works) · Meaning (existential (10 works) · Purpose in life (8 works) · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction (7 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Identity, Memory, and Therapy (5 works)