Light in COVID's darkness: holistic thinking, meaning-making and gratitude during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted distress and uncertainty to people all over the world. The current study explores the impact of holistic thinking on meaning-making and gratitude among American participants, in the context of the COVID-19 suffering. From past work, we understand that meaning-making and gratitude buffer against life stressors. However, little to no research has established direct links between holistic thinking, meaning-making and gratitude. As such, it was hypothesised that – (1) holistic thinking increases one’s tendency to make meaning, (2) meaning-making tendencies predict increased gratitude, (3) holistic thinking increases one’s sense of gratitude, and (4) meaning-making mediates the relationship between holistic thinking and gratitude. The results showed that holistic thinking increased meaning-making behavioural selections, which in turn increased people’s sense of gratitude. However, contrary to the hypotheses, these relationships were not significant when meaning-making was measured by a self-report scale, Meaning-Making in Negative Experiences. The paper discusses the implications of the relationship between holistic thinking, meaning-making, and gratitude in the context of the pandemic, and how the findings can help tide people through difficult times.