Abstract:  A sense of meaning in life has an important impact on individual’s mental health, the studies on which have been widely concerned in many fields of psychology. Three models, the hierarchic model of meaning, the meaning-making model and the meaning maintenance model respectively, are used to explain “what” is the meaning, “when” and “how” the meaning is gained and maintained. Meaning in life is influenced by the Big Five personality, cognitive styles (mental simulation), the state of emotion and prosoical behavior. The future study should pay attention to additional influencing factors of meaning in life and the amelioration of theoretical models of meaning making. Also, it is promising to study the meaning making process from the perspective of time series. Third, cross-culture studies should be taken into consideration as well.

Key words:  meaning in life, theoretical model, mental mechanism