Rollo May: Existential Psychology

Question 1

unhealthy or neurotic people

Answer 1

-lack courage to face their destiny
-Functional but have my doctors and have difficulty coping with uncertainties (-> anxiety)
-They give of much of their freedom
-They run away from responsible(->lose sight of who they are)
-They doubt themselves

Question 2

Healthy people

Answer 2

-They have the capability to challenge their destiny
-They cherish their freedom
-They live Authentically with other people and with themselves
-They can create their own happiness within the self
-They recognize the inevitability of death and have the courage to live life in the present

Question 3

Existentialism elements:

Answer 3

1. Existence takes precedence over essence
2. Existentialism opposes the split between subject and object
3. People search for some meaning to their lives
4. Existentialist a hold of that ultimately it’s of us is responsible for who we are and what we become
5. Existentialist are basically anti-theoretical

Question 4

Dasein
by Martin Heidegger, adapted by May

Answer 4

being-in-the-world
The basic unity of a person and environment is expressed in dasein

Question 5

Antithesis/ no sense of Dasein

Answer 5

Starts from being out of touch with one owns body
No clear image of themselves, isolated from the world, distant and foreign, no unity of self and world, when they strive for power over nature they lose touch of their relationship with the world

Question 6

Modes of Being-in-the-world (Dasein)

Answer 6

i. Umwelt (hunger, sleep, birth, death) >natural law & biological drives
-around world
-the environment around us
ii. Mitwelt (friendship, love, respect)
-with world
-our relationship with other people
iii. Eigenwelt (who we are, perceive, meaning to things parang tayo when sunset/rise)
-own world
-our rel. w/ our self

Question 7

He emphasized balance btw freedom & responsibility, and what motivates people to attain these.

Answer 7

The acquisition of freedom and responsibility is achieved only at the expense of or experiencing anxiety

Question 8

Forms Non-Being (=nothingness)

Answer 8

Death
-if not confronted can escape fr anxiety(temporarily) & -> vices, compulsive behavior, blind conformity to social expectations

Anxiety (ontological anxiety=nature of being)
-Awareness of their existence can be destroyed or can become nothing
“anxiety is the dizziness of freedom” -sk

Freedom cannot exist without anxiety, nor anxiety exist without freedom

Guilt (ontological guilt=nature of being not feelings fr situation)
When people denied their potentiality, fail to accurately perceive the needs of fellow humans, remain oblivious to their dependence on the natural world

Question 9

Types of anxiety

Answer 9

Normal A
-Proportionate to the threat
-Does not involve repression
-Can you be confronted constructively on the conscious level
“ All growth consist of the anxiety-creating surrender of past values”

Neurotic A
-disproportionate to the threat
-Involves repression and other forms of intrapsychic conflict
-Managed by various kinds of blocking off of activity and awareness
When the conflict that causes anxiety is constantly being repressed-> reoccur

Question 10

3 forms of ontological guilt =>3 modes of being-in-the-world

Answer 10

Umwelt (sim: human dilemma)
-lack of awareness of one’s b-i-t-w
-being removed fr natural world: guilt is separation fr nature/ separation guilt

Mitwelt
-Inability to perceive accurately the world of others
-eg Not being sensitive to others or the world around us

Eigenwelt (Jonah complex)
guilt of not able to fulfill our potentialities (a self rel. guilt)

Question 11

Intentionality

Answer 11

(create d context for intentions) structure:
meaning to experiences
makes decisions abt the future

-action🔁intentionality
-bridge gap btw subject & object

Question 12

Forms of love

Answer 12

Sex - biological
Eros- salvation of sex
Philia - non-sexual friendships
Agape -selfless love

Question 13

forms of Freedom

Answer 13

i. existential freedom
- freedom of action/doing
-to act on choices that one make

ii. essential freedom
-freedom of being
-inner freedom

Question 14

Destiny

Answer 14

-our ultimate destiny is death
-psychological & cultural factors contribute to our destiny

Question 15

2 levels of how May believed people communicate

Answer 15

Rationalistic language
-precedence over the people who ate communicating

myths
-human experience is important than empirical accuracy of communication

Question 16

Oedipus story contains elements of extensional crisis common to everyone

Answer 16

-
i. Birth
ii. separation or exile fr parents
iii. sexual union w one parent & hostility toward the other
iv. Sexual union with one parent and hostility toward the other
v. The assertion of independence and the search for identity
vi. Death