1. Theories of Personality May: Existential Psychology
Chapter 12

2. Outline Overview of Existential Psychology Biography of Rollo May
Background of Existentialism
The Case of Philip
Anxiety
Guilt
Intentionality
Care, Love, and Will

3. Outline Freedom and Destiny Power of Myth Psychopathology
Psychotherapy
Related Research
Critique of May
Concept of Humanity

4. Overview of Existential Psychology
Rooted in European Existential Philosophy
Based in Clinical Experience
People live in the Present and are Responsible for Experiences
People lack Courage to Face Destiny and Flee from Freedom
Healthy People Challenge Destiny and Live Authentically

5. Biography of May Born in Ada, Ohio in 1909
B.A. from Oberlin College in 1930
Lived as an itinerant artist in Europe for three years after college, where he heard Adler speak
Returns to the U.S. in 1933
Graduates from Union Theological Seminary with Master of Divinity in 1938

6. Biography (cont’d)
Serves as a pastor for two years, then quits and begins to study psychoanalysis
Received his PhD in clinical psychology from Columbia University in 1949
Published The Meaning of Anxiety in 1950
Served as visiting professor at institutions including Harvard and Princeton
Died in Tiburon, California in 1994

7. Background of Existentialism
What Is Existentialism?
Existence takes precedence over essence
There is no split between subject and object
People search for some meaning in their lives
Each of us is responsible for who we are and what we become
Basically Antitheoretical
Basic Concepts
Being-in-the-world
Nonbeing

8. Being Being-in-the-world Alienation: The illness of our time
Seperation from nature
Lack of meaningful interpersonal relationships
Alienation from one’s authentic self
Modes of being-in-the-world (simultaneous)
Umwelt - the environement around us
Mitwelt - relationship with other people
Eigenwelt – our relationship with our self

9. Nonbeing or Nothingness
Fear of death
Living defensively
Not making active choices
Expressed in the various forms

10. Anxiety Human Behavior Is Motivated by Sense of Dread and Anxiety
Normal Anxiety
That “which is proportionate to the threat, does not involve repression, and can be confronted constructively on the conscious level” (May, 1967)
Neurotic Anxiety
“a reaction which is disproportionate to the threat, involves repression and other forms of intrapsychic conflict, and is managed by various kinds of blocking-off of activity and awareness” (May, 1967)

11. Guilt Guilt Arises when: Anxiety and Guilt are Ontological
People deny their potentialities
Fail to accurately perceive the needs of others
Remain oblivious to their dependence on the natural world
Anxiety and Guilt are Ontological
Three forms of Ontological Guilt:
Umwelt
Mitwelt
Eigenwelt

12. Intentionality
Intentionality is the structure that gives meaning to experience and allows people to make decisions about the future
Bridges the gap between subject and object
Can be unconscious

13. Care, Love, and Will Union of Love and Will Forms of Love
Sex – a biological process
Eros – psychological
Philia – intimate nonsexual friendship
Agape – respect for others, alturistic love

14. Freedom and Destiny Freedom Defined Forms of Freedom What is Destiny?
Existential Freedom
Freedom of doing/action
Essential Freedom
Freedom of being
What is Destiny?
Philip’s Destiny

15. The Power of Myth
Myths have powerful effects on individuals and cultures
Believed that Westerners have an urgent need for myths
Because they have lost many of their traditional myths, they turn to religious cults, drugs, and popular culture to fill the vacuum
People communicate on two levels:
Rationalistic language
Myth

16. Psychopathology Apathy and emptiness as the malaise of modern times
People have become alienated from the natural world (Umwelt), from other people (Mitwelt), and from themselves (Eigenwelt)
Symptoms can be temporary or permanent
Psychopathology is a lack of communication
Inability to know others and to share oneself with them

17. Psychotherapy
The goal of May’s psychotherapy was to make people more fully human (e.g., expand their consciousness)
The purpose of psychotherapy is to set people free
Existential psychotherapy de-emphasizes techniques while stressing the personal qualities of the therapist
Must establish one-to-one relationship

18. Related Research Existential Anxiety Has Been Researched
An existential approach to the study of terror and death has carried over into “terror management,” a modern experimental offshoot of existential psychology
Mortality Salience and Denial of Our Animal Nature
Goldenberg et al. (2001)
People distance themselves from animals because they remind us of our physical body and death
Cultures differ in their denial of animal nature
Cox et al. (2007)
Goldenberg’s findings extended specifically to breast feeding
Mortality salience increases disgust at breast feeding as at other creaturely behaviors
Fitness as a Defense Against Mortality Awareness
Arndt, Schimel, & Goldenberg (2003)
Different levels of defense against mortality awareness
People are motivated to fight against death and disease when their own mortality is made salient
Terror management bolsters the fundamental principle of existential psychology that existential anxiety drives much of human behavior

19. Critique of May May’s Theory Is:
Moderate on Organizing Knowledge and Parsimony
Low on Internal Consistency
Very Low on Generating Research, Falsifiability, and Guiding Action

20. Concept of Humanity Free Choice over Determinism
Optimism over Pessimism
Teleology over Causality
Equal emphasis on Conscious and Unconscious and Social Influence and Biology
Uniqueness over Similarity