Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionIII. Humanistic/Existential
Theories- May: Existential
Psychology
© The McGraw−Hill^353
Companies, 2009Chapter 12 May: Existential Psychology 347refers to a product. Existence is associated with growth and change; essence signi-
fies stagnation and finality. Western civilization, and particularly Western science,
has traditionally valued essence over existence. It has sought to understand the es-
sential composition of things, including humans. By contrast, existentialists affirm
that people’s essence is their power to continually redefine themselves through the
choices they make.
Second, existentialism opposes the split between subject and object. Accord-
ing to Kierkegaard, people are more than mere cogs in the machinery of an industri-
alized society, but they are also more than subjective thinking beings living passively
through armchair speculation. Instead, people are both subjective and objective and
must search for truth by living active and authentic lives.
Third, people search for some meaning to their lives. They ask (though not al-
ways consciously) the important questions concerning their being: Who am I? Is life
worth living? Does it have a meaning? How can I realize my humanity?
Fourth, existentialists hold that ultimately each of us is responsible for who we
are and what we become. We cannot blame parents, teachers, employers, God, or cir-
cumstances. As Sartre (1957) said, “Man is nothing else but what he makes of him-
self. Such is the first principle of existentialism” (p. 15). Although we may associate
with others in productive and healthy relationships, in the end, we are each alone. We
can choose to become what we can be or we can choose to avoid commitment and
choice, but ultimately, it is our choice.
Fifth, existentialists are basically antitheoretical. To them, theories further de-
humanize people and render them as objects. As we mentioned in Chapter 1, theo-
ries are constructed in part to explain phenomena. Existentialists are generally op-
posed to this approach. Authentic experience takes precedence over artificial
explanations. When experiences are molded into some preexisting theoretical model,
they lose their authenticity and become divorced from the individual who experi-
enced them.
Basic Concepts
Before proceeding to Rollo May’s view of humanity, we pause to look at two basic
concepts of existentialism, namely, being-in-the-world and nonbeing.
Being-in-the-World
Existentialists adopt a phenomenological approach to understanding humanity. To
them, we exist in a world that can be best understood from our own perspective.
When scientists study people from an external frame of reference, they violate both
the subjects and their existential world. The basic unity of person and environment
is expressed in the German word Dasein,meaning to exist there. Hence, Daseinlit-
erally means to exist in the world and is generally written as being-in-the-world.
The hyphens in this term imply a oneness of subject and object, of person and world.
Many people suffer from anxiety and despair brought on by their alienation
from themselves or from their world. They either have no clear image of themselves
or they feel isolated from a world that seems distant and foreign. They have no sense
of Dasein,no unity of self and world. As people strive to gain power over nature,
they lose touch with their relationship to the natural world. As they come to rely on