Being Here and Now: The Benefits of Belonging In Space and Time
Matthew Baldwin, University of Florida
Lucas A. Keefer, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Research suggests that a sense of belonging is a critical prerequisite of happiness and well-being. While some have focused on belonging provided by relationships, other work demonstrates the value of belonging in certain places. In the current research we join these efforts to understand belonging by offering a novel framework for exploring an understudied but no less fundamental aspect of human experience—time. We situate this framework within an existential analysis of human action and test general predictions about the psychological value of experiencing a sense of belonging in time, what we call temporal rootedness. Two samples (Studies 1 and 2) collected across cultures provide converging evidence that temporal rootedness is a unique psychological phenomenon that is predictive of personal psychological well-being. Two additional experiments (Studies 3 and 4) offer promising evidence that temporal rootedness can be situationally induced and threatened with consequences for well-being. These findings demonstrate the potential value of further exploration into this sense of belonging.
© Journal of Happiness Studies
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: "Being Here and Now: The Benefits of Belonging In Space and Time," which has been published in final form at 10.1007/s10902-019-00214-7.
Journal of Happniess Studies
Baldwin, M., Keefer, L. A. (2019). Being Here and Now: The Benefits of Belonging In Space and Time. Journal of Happniess Studies.