Theory Application- personality theory to be applied (May’a Existentialism theory)
kezydera4
May-Fall17.pdf
10/30/2017
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MAY: EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONALITY
It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have
those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech,
freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice
either of them.
-Mark Twain
When people are free to do as they please, they usually
imitate each other.
-Eric Hoffer
OVERVIEW OF MAY’S LIFE
Born in Ada, Ohio, & was the oldest of six children
Traveled throughout Europe, painting pictures & studying native art, while
holding a job tutoring English in Greece
An emotional & physical breakdown led May to search for life’s meaning and
begin to listen to his “inner voice”
Tuberculosis led May to the realization that he had an proactive part in his
physical health & in dealing with anxiety
After his recovery, he completed his PhD in clinical psychology from Columbia,
wrote several books on existential psychology, & received numerous awards
for his contributions to the field
BACKGROUND: EXISTENTIALISM
What Is Existentialism?
• Philosophy that emphasizes individual existence, freedom, & choice
• Existence takes precedence over essence
• There is no split between subject & object
• People search for some meaning in their lives
• Each of us is responsible for who we are & what we become
• Antitheoretical (mostly)
OVERVIEW: EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Based in clinical experience & rooted in European existential philosophy
People live in the present & are responsible for experiences
People lack courage to face destiny & also flee from freedom
Healthy people challenge destiny & live authentically
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Based in philosophy (inspired by the writings of Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, Jaspers, & Buber)
“How did I get into the world? Why was I not asked about it, why was I not informed of the rules and regulations but just thrust into the ranks as if I had been bought by a peddling shanghaier of human beings? How did I get involved in this big enterprise called actuality? Why should I be involved? Isn't it a matter of choice? And if I am compelled to be involved, where is the manager—I have something to say about this. Is there no manager? To whom shall I make my complaint?” (Kierkegaard's literary character Young Man in Repetition, 1843)
Helps people examine issues of personal meaning
Love and Will: "Now it is no longer a matter of deciding what to do, but of deciding how to decide" (May, 1969)
Less about theory & more about offering perspective on the human condition
OVERVIEW: EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY EXISTENTIALISM: BASIC ASSUMPTIONS
Free Choice: people can choose what they become
Freedom: people have fear of freedom because with freedom comes choice & the possibility of choosing poorly (responsibility)
EXISTENTIALISM: BASIC ASSUMPTIONS
Responsibility: we are responsible for our own lives
• Genes & environment are important, however they are not deterministic
• Many individuals, at some point, struggle with accepting this responsibility &, therefore, deny or limit their own freedom
• Sartre: “Statements of bad faith”; inauthentic to assume that our existence is controlled by forces external to ourselves
MAY: BASIC CONCEPTS
Being-in-the-World (dasein)
• Alienation is the illness of our time & it manifests in three areas:
➢ Separation from nature
➢ Lack of meaningful interpersonal relationships
➢ Alienation from one’s authentic self
• People experience 3 simultaneous modes of being-in-the-world:
➢ Umwelt – the environment around us
➢ Mitwelt – relationship with other people
➢ Eigenwelt – our relationship with our self
MAY: BASIC CONCEPTS
Nonbeing (nothingness)
• Fear of death
• Living defensively
• Not making active choices
• Expressed in various forms
• Nonbeing involves the understanding & acceptance of our “not being,” or death
MAY: THE GIFT OF DEATH
Death: It kills us but without it we would not know we were alive
“As death, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our existence, I have
formed during the last few years such close relations with this best and truest friend of
mankind, that his image is not only no longer terrifying to me, but is indeed very soothing
and consoling! And I thank my God for graciously granting me the opportunity . . . of learning
that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness.”
– Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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MAY: ANXIETY
Human behavior is motivated by sense of dread & anxiety
Anxiety arises when people are faced with the problem of fulfilling their
potentialities
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)
MAY: THE IMPACT OF ANXIETY & FEAR
How are our lives safer because of fear? • Fear and anxiety are signals of problems
• They help us recognize the problem
• They motivate us to cope with the problem
• Normal anxiety is good
How are our lives poorer because of fear? • Avoid responsibility for our acts
• Avoid recognizing we have choices
• Avoid anxiety & play it safe
• Avoid real intimacy
• Stay busy so we don’t become aware of our fundamental aloneness
• Stay busy so we don’t become aware of the finiteness of life
MAY: THE IMPACT OF ANXIETY & FEAR
Neurotic anxiety is not good – choices are opportunities, not problems
Sometimes “life happens.” Deaths, accidents, & traumas can:
• Force us to become aware of a problem
• Force us to reconsider how we live life
• Cause us to accept responsibility for the direction of our life
MAY: THE IMPACT OF ANXIETY & FEAR
Existential Anxiety
Makes us aware of the “big issues”
Helps us steer an effective path through life
Helps us become aware of separations from:
• Self
• Others
• World
Cannot be lived with constantly, but should be revisited time to time
MAY: GUILT
Guilt arises when:
• People deny their potentialities
• Fail to accurately perceive the needs of others
• Remain oblivious to their dependence on the natural world
Anxiety & guilt are ontological
Three forms of ontological guilt:
• Umwelt
• Mitwelt
• Eigenwelt
MAY: INTENTIONALITY
Intentionality is the structure that gives meaning to
experience & allows people to make decisions about the future
Bridges the gap between subject & object
Can be unconscious
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MAY: CARE, LOVE, & WILL
Care is the source of love & will
Union of love & will
Forms of Love:
• Sex – a biological process
• Eros – psychological
• Philia – intimate nonsexual friendship
• Agape – respect for others, alturistic love
Healthy adult relationships involve combinations of all 4 forms, involving sexual satisfaction, desire for enduring union, genuine friendship, & unselfish concern for the welfare of the other person
MAY: FREEDOM & DESTINY
Healthy individuals are able both to assume their freedom & face their destiny
Freedom involves the possibility of change & entails being able “to harbor different possibilities even though it is not clear at the moment which way one must act”
• Essential freedom: the freedom of being
• Existential freedom: the freedom of action; freedom of doing
Destiny involves our destination, resulting from biological, psychological, & cultural properties inhabited with choice
Destiny & freedom are paradoxical
MAY: THE POWER OF MYTH
Myths have powerful effects on individuals & 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, & popular culture to fill the vacuum
People communicate on two levels:
• Rationalistic language
• Myth
MAY: PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
Psychopathology results from denial of destiny & abandonment of myths;
results in apathy, emptiness, & lack of direction
People have become alienated from the natural world (Umwelt), from
other people (Mitwelt), & from themselves (Eigenwelt)
Symptoms can be temporary or permanent
Psychopathology is a lack of communication – Inability to know others &
to share oneself with them
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS: EXISTENTIAL THERAPY
The Primacy of Experience: every individual is unique
• Isolation: we are born alone & die alone
• Personal Meaning: what is the purpose for living?
➢ How we live our life (being-in-the-world)
➢ Do we visit all the rooms in our house?
Self-Awareness: live in the here & now
MAY: PSYCHOTHERAPY
Find meaning in life (even from the terrible)
Change meanings to those that are more healthy & adaptive
To “live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now” (Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning)
How can this be accomplished? • Listen & understand client’s worldview
• Communicate your understanding to client
• Only when client recognizes that therapist understands, can therapy focus on
shifting meanings
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MAY: THERAPEUTIC PROCESS
Being in the moment: focusing on the here & now
Focus on owning feelings, desires, & actions
• Can’t vs. Won’t
• Whose unconscious is it?
Making connections to the past: clients are encouraged to emotionally relive past life events
Integrating the felt experience (including in therapy) into primary relationships
Integrating what was learned: being a new person in the present moment
• Deal & confront inability to feel and/or want
• Identify & deal with conflicting wants
• Help client process the “what ifs”
MAY: THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUES
Reframing: searches for the positive in the situation (must wait until client feels heard)
Paradoxical Intention: encourages client to do what client is afraid might happen (returns control to the client)
Dereflection: redirects focus from the maladaptive to the healthy
You’ve been spending a lot of time worrying about your daughter – and driving you both
crazy! Perhaps this would be a good week to find something else to do.You’ve talked about
wanting to…
MAY: RELATED RESEARCH
Existential Anxiety – an existential approach to the study of terror &
death has carried over into “terror management,” a modern
experimental offshoot of existential psychology
Mortality salience & denial of our animal nature
• Goldenberg et al. (2001)
• Cox et al. (2007)
Fitness as a defense against mortality awareness
Arndt, Schimel, & Goldenberg (2003)
MAY: CONCEPT OF HUMANITY
Determinism Free Choice
1 2 3 4 5
Pessimism Optimism
1 2 3 4 5
Causality Teleology
1 2 3 4 5
Conscious Unconscious
1 2 3 4 5
Social Biological
1 2 3 4 5
Uniqueness Similarities
1 2 3 4 5
MAY: CRITICISMS
Moderate on Organizing Knowledge & Parsimony
Low on Internal Consistency
Very low on Generating Research, Falsifiability, & Guiding Action
