The Quest for Significance
By Arie W. Kruglanski and Dan Raviv
What drives us to matter? Why do we seek validation, respect, or recognition — and how does that desire shape our lives?
In The Quest for Significance, renowned psychologist Arie W. Kruglanski and journalist Dan Raviv explore a core human motivation that fuels everything from everyday choices to world-changing events: the deep need to feel that our lives matter.
Blending compelling research, real-world stories, and personal insights — including Kruglanski’s reflections on surviving the Holocaust as a child in Poland — the authors reveal how the pursuit of significance influences our happiness, our relationships, and our very identity.
Whether you're a psychology student, practitioner, or curious reader, this powerful book will help you:
- Understand the hidden forces behind human behavior
- Build more meaningful relationships
- Navigate social, political, and cultural dynamics with deeper awareness
Insightful, accessible, and timely — The Quest for Significance offers a fresh perspective on what it means to live a fulfilling, purpose-driven life.
🎧 Explore the Podcast Inspired by the Book
The Quest for Significance Podcast brings the themes of the book to life through conversations with people whose careers and personal stories reveal the powerful human need to matter.
Hosted by Dr. Arie W. Kruglanski and Dan Raviv, this companion series explores how the universal quest for dignity, purpose, and meaning shapes our relationships, our decisions, and even global events. It also warns of what can happen when this need is denied.
The Quest for Significance is available from your favorite bookseller and online internationally from Amazon.
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Meet The Authors
Arie W. Kruglanski is Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland and one of the world’s leading experts on human motivation. A recipient of numerous prestigious awards—including the APA’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award and the APS William James Fellow Award—Dr. Kruglanski has dedicated his career to understanding the forces that drive thought, emotion, and behavior.
In addition to The Quest for Significance, he is the author of several other acclaimed books, including Uncertain, The Three Pillars of Radicalization, The Radical's Journey, Psychology of the Extreme, and The Psychology of Closed Mindedness, which explore the psychological roots of identity, belief, and action. Learn more at www.kruglanskiarie.com.
Professor Kruglanski can also be contacted on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.
Dan Raviv is an award-winning journalist, author, and longtime international news correspondent whose career has taken him to historic events and news stories in over 35 countries. Over four decades, he reported for CBS Radio and Television and was based in New York, Tel Aviv, London, Miami, and Washington, D.C., giving American audiences the feeling of "being there": on the Berlin Wall as it fell, in Moscow's Red Square with Reagan and Gorbachev, and in huge crowds as Popes traveled.
He is the co-author of several acclaimed books on intelligence and geopolitics, including the national bestseller Every Spy a Prince, Friends in Deed, and Spies Against Armageddon. Raviv also authored Comic Wars, a behind-the-scenes chronicle of Marvel Entertainment’s rise from bankruptcy to box office dominance. Connect with Dan on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.
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