fei75766_ch11_345-376.indd 369  02/06/20 12:38 PM
Chapter 11    May: Existential Psychology369
good about yourself”) oranegative view(“write about atimewhen yourromantic 
partner didnotmake youfeelgood about yourself”). Finally, allparticipants com-
pleted aword-stem taskthatmeasures theaccessibility ofdeath-related thoughts (e.g., 
GRA_ _canbecompleted either as“grave” or“grape”). Results ofthisstudy indi-
cated thatwhen death wasprimed andstudents thought ofatimewhen theirpartner 
hadnegative regard forthem, theyscored higher ondeath -related thoughts, compared 
tothose whowerereminded ofdeath butthought oftheirpartner’s positive regard for
them. Inother words, perceived positive regard from one’s romantic partner buffers 
against theincreased accessibility ofdeath thoughts thatcanbeengendered bybeing 
reminded ofones’ mortality. 
Finally, CoxandArndt examined howattachment styleinteracts withmortal -
itysalience toinfluence which relationships (romantic partners orparents) people 
turntoforbolstering their feelings ofpositive regard. Inthiscase, participants’ 
attachment styles were assessed, theywere given thedeath versus unexpected event 
manipulation, andwere asked toratethemselves onaseries ofpositive andnegative 
adjective traits from theperspective ofhowtheir romantic partner evaluates them 
andtheir parent evaluates them onthetraits. They found thatsecurely attached indi-
viduals (vs.anxious oravoidantly attached) were more prone toexaggerate howpos-
itively their romantic partners seethem aftertheywere reminded ofdeath compared 
tothecontrol condition. Forthose withthemore anxious/preoccupied attachment 
style, incontrast, death reminders ledtogreater perceived positive regard from a
parent. Those withavoidant attachment styleshowed noeffect ofmortality salience 
onamount ofperceived regard from either aparent oraromantic partner. 
Taken together, thisfascinating series ofstudies provides aninteresting answer 
tothequestion ofwhyMay’s Mitwelt provides abuffer from theanxiety anddespair 
thatcanbebrought onbyfeelings ofnonbeing. Ourrelationships withothers pro-
videuswithafeeling ofpositive regard andhence asense thatwearesignificant. 
May’s colleague Irvin Yalom (1980) wrote thatreminders ofourmortality canmoti-
vateustopursue thethings thatmake lifefeelmore meaningful. CoxandArndt 
(2012) conclude that“byunderstanding some oftheways inwhich people experience 
esteem-enhancing support from relationship figures, itmaybepossible tohelppeople 
confront coreexistential concerns withgreater resilience” (p.629).
Growth in the Eigenwelt:  There Is an Upside to Mortality 
Awareness
Theresearch todateonterror management theory, likethatcited above, hasfocused 
almost exclusively onwhat Maywould callthe“neurotic anxiety” engendered bymor-
tality awareness, theuglier sideofourdefenses against thedread ofnonbeing. But
May(1958), likeallexistentialists, argued thatacourageous facing oftheinevitability 
ofourdeath enables ustoriseabove adefensive, conformist existence toDasein. Can
existential concerns facilitate human growth? Newer research isnowconfirming that,
indeed, humans canexistcreatively within thethreat ofnonexistence.
Kenneth Vailandcolleagues (2012) conducted areview oftheliterature onthe
impact ofbothconscious andunconscious thoughts ofdeath, andfound evidence for
positive growth-oriented outcomes ofeach. Inaddition tothehealth andfitness moti-
vations engendered byproximal mortality awareness discussed above, other studies Final PDF to printer