Introducing Science To The Psychology Of The Soul - The Discipline Of Experimental Existential Psychology

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 22 Dec 2006 - 2:00 PDT

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A new direction for psychological science has emerged in recent years - one that considers confrontation with deep existential issues to be an essential factor in diverse forms of human behavior. Experimental existential psychology uses rigorous methods to explore these processes and is discussed in a recent issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science.

  “Humans live their lives knowing that death is inevitable, that their most cherished beliefs and values, even their own identities, are uncertain and that their private subjective experiences can never be shared with another human being,” says Sander Koole, lead author of the article. “This knowledge creates five major existential concerns: death, isolation, identity, freedom, and meaning. Hundreds of experiments have shown that people cling more to systems of meaning when they have been reminded of these basic existential concerns.”

  By illuminating the deeper psychological concerns that underlie human behavior, experimental existential psychology hopes to promote psychological health and more harmonious relationships between individuals and groups. The new insights gained from this research can be used to promote the development of new, scientifically grounded forms of psychotherapy.

  An existential perspective also has wide-ranging social implications. At a time in history when clashes between cultures, ideologies, religions and ethnic groups pose a threat, an existential perspective illuminates the psychological forces that promote such powerful allegiances and fierce oppositions to differences in systems of meaning and perspectives.

Current Directions in Psychological Science presents the latest advances in theory and research in psychology. This important and timely journal contains concise reviews spanning all of scientific psychology and its applications. Written by leading experts in terms that are accessible outside of the realm of research subspecialties, the reviews published in Current Directions in Psychological Science cover such current topics as memory and cognition, language, neural foundations of behavior, social and personality determinants of behavior, psychopathology, and other topics related to the psychological sciences. For more information, please visit http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/cdir.


 
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