Teleological thinking, the tendency to attribute purpose and intention to events, is a fundamental cognitive process that influences how individuals interpret their lives. While extensively studied in developmental psychology, the real-time dynamics and daily prevalence of such thinking in adulthood remain under-researched. This study aims to investigate how often and under what specific circumstances adults engage in teleological reasoning during their daily routines. We recruited 150 Polish adults (aged 18–65) to participate in a 14-day Experience Sampling Method (ESM) study. Using the ExpiWell smartphone application, participants received four daily prompts to report their current activity, social context, emotional state, and whether they perceived a sense of purpose or “design” in recent experiences. Baseline measures included religiosity, personality traits, and dispositional teleological thinking. Data analysis utilizes multilevel modeling to examine the interaction between contextual variables (e.g., location, company) and individual differences in predicting teleological explanations. The findings will provide novel insights into the psychological mechanisms of purpose-seeking, highlighting how daily environmental demands and internal states shape the interpretation of everyday events as meaningful or intentional. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of cognitive development and sense-making processes in adult life.
Teleological Thinking in Adults: An ESM Study on the Real-Time Dynamics of Purpose Perception