CHAPTER 14

1. CHAPTER 14 MAY'S EXISTENTIAL-ANALYTIC THEORY

2. Existential-Analytic Theory • Theoretical approach to understanding human personality that combines elements of existential philosophy with Freudian concepts.

3. Existential-Analytic Theory (cont.) • Existentialism - study of ontology (the nature of being). • Being - many definitions; one used by May emphasizes our struggle through the use of conscious, decision-making to realize our potentials. • Three Modes of Being-in-the-World. • umwelt - biological or natural environment in which human beings exist. • mitwelt - world of interrelationships. • eigenwelt - unique presence in human beings of self-awareness and self-relatedness.

4. Disintegration of Values in Modern Society • Reasons for Disintegration • change from healthy competitive attitude to hyper-competitive one. • indiscriminate pursuit of material possessions, status, and prestige. • loss of our belief in the efficacy of reason. • loss of our sense of dignity and self-worth. • loss of our sense of relatedness to nature. • loss of our ability to relate to each other in a mature, loving way.

5. Disintegration of Values in Modern Society (cont.) • Consequences of Disintegration • feelings of emptiness and isolation from one another. • feelings of powerlessness. • feelings of loneliness. • feelings of anxiety and avoidance of taking responsibility for our actions. • normal anxiety - painful feeling that emanates from a realistic threat to our established values. • neurotic anxiety - painful feeling that is produced by an excessive reaction to a threat to our values.

6. Freeing Ourselves from Neurotic Anxiety • Expansion of Consciousness • leads to more spontaneity, creativity, and responsible decision- making.

7. Personality Development • Need to break our physical and psychological dependence on our parents or parental substitutes. • Evolution of our consciousness as we break these ties • innocence - no consciousness of self. • rebellion. • ordinary consciousness of self - some awareness of prejudices and limitations. • creative consciousness of self - transcendence of the usual or ordinary limits of consciousness.

8. Therapeutic Assessment Techniques • No primary focus on techniques; focus instead on the person's attitudes, the special meanings of his or her existence.

9. Theory's Implications for Therapy • Goal of Therapy • to understand the person as a being-in-the-world. • to make lonely and empty people more aware of themselves and their potential for growth through an expansion of consciousness.

10. Evaluative Comments • Comprehensiveness - broad in scope when compared to other humanistic positions. • Precision and Testability - imprecise and very difficult to test adequately. • Parsimony - fails to meet the parsimony criterion; too many redundant concepts. • Empirical Validity - little empirical support. • Heuristic Value - theory is proving to be stimulating to scholars in the humanistic psychology movement and to members of the public, but not to researchers within mainstream psychology. • Applied Value - considerable influence on professionals in areas such as education, pastoral counseling, family life, and religion.