fei75766_ch11_345-376.indd 373  02/06/20 12:38 PM
Chapter 11    May: Existential Psychology373
has a particular goal or destiny that we must discover and challenge or else 
risk alienation and neurosis.
May assumed a moderate stance on the issue of conscious  versus 
unconscious forces in personality development. By their nature, people have 
enormous capacity for self-awareness, but often that capacity remains fallow. 
People sometimes lack the courage to face their destiny or to recognize the 
evil that exists within their culture as well as within themselves. Conscious -
ness and choices are interrelated. As people make more free choices, they 
gain more insight into who they are; that is, they develop a greater sense 
of being. This sharpened sense of being, in turn, facilitates the ability to 
make further choices. An awareness of self and a capacity for free choice 
are hallmarks of psychological health.
May also took an intermediate position on social versus biological  influ -
ences. Society contributes to personality principally through interpersonal 
relationships. Our relations with other people can have either a freeing or 
an enslaving effect. Sick relationships, such as those Philip experienced with 
his mother and sister, can stifle personal growth and leave us with an inabil -
ity to participate in a healthy encounter with another person. Without the 
capacity to relate to people as people, life becomes meaningless and we 
develop a sense of alienation not only from others but from ourselves as 
well. Biology also contributes to personality. Biological factors such as gen -
der, physical size, predisposition to illnesses, and ultimately death itself, 
shape a person’s destiny. Everyone must live within the confines of destiny, 
but those confines can be expanded.
On the dimension of uniqueness  versus similarities,  May’s view of 
humanity definitely leans toward uniqueness. Each of us is responsible for 
shaping our own personality within the limits imposed by destiny. No two of 
us make the same sequence of choices, and no two develop identical ways 
of looking at things. May’s emphasis on phenomenology implies individual 
perceptions and therefore unique personalities.
Key Terms and Concepts
•Abasic tenet ofexistentialism isthatexistence precedes essence, meaning 
thatwhat people doismore important thanwhat theyare.
•Asecond assumption isthatpeople are both subjective and objective: thatis,
theyarethinking aswellasacting beings.
•People are motivated to search for answers toimportant questions regarding 
themeaning oflife.
•People haveanequal degree ofbothfreedom and responsibility.
•Theunity ofpeople andtheirphenomenological world isexpressed bythe
termDasein, orbeing-in-the-world.
•Three modes ofbeing-in-the-world areUmwelt, one’s relationship withthe
world ofthings; Mitwelt, one’s relationship withtheworld ofpeople; and
Eigenwelt, one’s relationship withoneself.Final PDF to printer