This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: When Fan Yang's children came home complaining about a crafting class, they had a particularly strong advocate. "They said, 'They don't let us take home our creations,'" Yang, a research associate professor at the University of Chicago, recalled.
"I almost emailed the teachers to send them our paper." Her paper, published in 2026 in Psychological Science, revealed how even something minimal—like saving artwork—makes a meaningful difference to motivation. A lack of motivation in work or life can lead to languishing, quitting or more serious issues like depression, suicidal ideation and antisocial behavior. Having a sense of significance—that one's life, work or activities have value—can help provide meaning and incentive.
But because most research on significance focuses on careers and life as a whole, little is known about its impact on small, everyday activities. The need for meaning is often considered a luxury concern, relevant only to some people and only later in life. But Yang thinks it's more fundamental than that.
We actually really need it," she said. "In a lot of situations we don't really notice because it's already there." For the paper, Yang and Yilin Liu, now a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Dallas, conducted four studies involving children ages 4 to 9 and adults to see whether significance is a deeply rooted need that starts early in life and whether even minimal significance can have an effect. The participants were shown puzzle pieces and told they could use them to create shapes, which would either be kept in a box or shredded.
Both children and adults liked the game and preferred to play it when the shapes were saved rather than shredded. In another study, adults and older children didn't bother creating shapes when told their art would be trashed. The findings suggest that even something as minor as saving a piece of artwork has meaning.
"We need this fundamental significance to help us to feel more motivated," Liu said. Children and adults were also more willing to pay to play the game by giving up a sticker if their shapes were saved. However, if they watched someone else create a shape rather than doing it themselves, they were less willing to give up their sticker.
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