Cultural-Existential Psychology

Daniel Sullivan is an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Arizona, Tucson. He is the author of several articles and book chapters on topics in experimental existential psychology, including terror management theory, enemy relations and conspiracy theories, and interpretations of suffering and victimhood. He has also written on film and literature, and is the co-editor of Death in Classic and Contemporary Film: Fade to Black (with Jeff Greenberg, 2013).

• Preface; Part I. Theory: 1. Theoretical roots of cultural-existential psychology; 2. Fundamental principles of cultural-existential psychology; 3. A model of existential threat; 4. Cultural variation as patterns of social orientation and control; 5. Cultural threat orientations: disorientation-avoidance and despair-avoidance; Part II. Research: 6. Modernization and changes in attitudes toward suffering among Kansas Mennonites; 7. Cultural threat orientations among traditionalist Mennonites, Unitarian Universalists, and college students; 8. Transcendence versus redemption in the experience of a natural disaster; Part III. Implications: 9. Cultural-existential psychology and contemporary society; Appendix A. Guide to key abbreviations and terms; Appendix B. Data analyses, Chapter 6; Appendix C. Methodology and questionnaire items, Chapter 7; Appendix D. Data analyses, Chapter 7.

'With this book, we welcome in an exciting new field of cultural-existential psychology that is not only deeply theoretical but supported by innovative research by the author. It should be of broad interest across disciplines and is a must-read for any scholar or practitioner interested in the study of culture.' Michele Gelfand, University of Maryland