‘Meaning-Seeker Test’: Nearly three-quarters of Dutch people are looking for meaning

Universiteit van Amsterdam

What provides meaning in life and how do people define meaning? UvA professor of Digital Humanities Rens Bod, in collaboration with the newspaper Trouw and Ipsos I&O, designed the ‘Meaning-Seeker Test’ to discover how the Dutch search for meaning. Many people in the Netherlands appear to be searching for meaning: no less than 73%. Striking results in the public survey include that the Dutch consider the pursuit of reliability essential and that demonstrating does not offer much meaning to many Dutch people.

In his book Waarom ben ik hier? Een kleine wereldgeschiedenis van zingeving (‘Why Am I Here? A Short World History of Meaning’ [currently being translated into English]), which was published last year, Bod delved into history and mapped out 180 forms of meaning from all over the world. This book forms the basis of the new research in which he focuses on the here and now.

Truth and justice
A conspicuous result is that the Dutch consider the pursuit of reliability essential: 90% of the respondents completely agree with the statement ‘People must be reliable’. In addition, the Dutch consider justice very important. The statement ‘I can’t stand lies, the truth must come out’ scored 76%.

It also stands out that demonstrating offers the Dutch remarkably little meaning. Only 14% of the Dutch agree with the statement: 'I am prepared to demonstrate for something I find important.' Although, according to Bod, you can still fill quite a few public squares with that 14 percent of the population.

‘What also surprised me was that acquiring knowledge is a beloved form of meaning for many people. 68% of Dutch people consider the statement: ‘You are never too old to learn, that is why I continue to develop myself’ essential. And another 25% say they find this somewhat important,’ says Bod. ‘Acquiring knowledge therefore appears to be one of the most important forms of meaning in the Netherlands. Much more important than finding peace and certainty in faith – just 16% of Dutch people indicated that was very important to them.’  

Egocentric or altruistic?
In Waarom ben ik hier? Bod distinguishes four categories of meaning: egocentric, altruistic, short-term oriented and long-term oriented. The public survey shows that all four categories are important to the Dutch, but that egocentric forms of meaning are considered most important in the short term. According to Bod, it is best to focus on all categories of meaning and do a little bit of everything. ‘For example, if sport – a form of egocentric meaning in the short term – is essential to your meaning and you can suddenly no longer take part due to health problems, this can lead to great frustration. But if you have more variety and also focus on altruistic meaning in the long-term, you will probably be able to withstand such shocks better overall.’

Discover what type of meaning-seeker you are
Find out what type of meaning-seeker you are in Trouw's Meaning-Seeker Test. Are you a rational, spiritual, artistic, practical, emotional or moral meaning seeker? The test takes about 10 minutes and is only available in Dutch.
Take the test: www.trouw.nl/zinzoekertest

About the research
The public survey was conducted by Ipsos I&O on behalf of Trouw. 2,257 Dutch people aged 18 or older from the I&O Research Panel participated. In the survey, participants are presented with 48 statements (co-written by Bod), and they have to indicate to what extent the statement applies to them. Trouw published the results in the editions of 16 and 19 November. The full research report will soon be published on the Ipsos I&O website.

Read the news in Trouw (16 November, in Dutch): https://www.trouw.nl/religie-filosofie/waar-zingeving-voor-nederlanders-vooral-uit-bestaat-streven-naar-kennis-en-zoeken-naar-schoonheid~b60f8029/

Read the news in Trouw (19 November, in Dutch): https://www.trouw.nl/religie-filosofie/waarom-vooral-jongeren-zoeken-naar-zingeving-mijn-generatie-heeft-behoefte-aan-stabiliteit~bc74c7f8/

Read the news item from Ipsos I&O (in Dutch): https://www.ipsos-publiek.nl/actueel/zeven-op-tien-nederlanders-zoeken-naar-zin/

Read more about Bod’s book Waarom ben ik hier?: https://www.uva.nl/en/shared-content/faculteiten/en/faculteit-der-geesteswetenschappen/news/2023/10/why-am-i-here-meaning-making-from-a-global-perspective.html