Acceptance of Self and others and the Existential Persuasion

Abstract

This paper examined the dimensions of self and other acceptance in the context of an existential-ontological perspective. A divergent view of conventional conceptualizations of acceptance of self and others is discussed and some research documentations are presented. Correlations among scores on the Thauberger Avoidance of Existential Confrontation Scale, the Eysenck Neuroticism Scale, the Berger Acceptance of Self, and the Acceptance of Others Scales obtained from 428 university students and staff were consistent in magnitude with those obtained on a similar sample of 116. As predicted, a significant correlation was found between Acceptance of Self and Acceptance of Others (.50 and .57), each of which was also significantly and negatively correlated with Neuroticism (Self: —.62 and —.66; and Others: —.34 and — .37). While Avoidance of Existential Confrontation correlated low with Neuroticism (.18 and .34), little relationship was noted between Avoidance of Existential Confrontation and both the Acceptance of Self (—.10 and —.23) and the Acceptance of Others (—.01 and —.03). The pattern of correlations suggests that the Avoidance of Existential Confrontation Scale possesses some psychometric distinctiveness from the Eysenck Neuroticism Scale as well as both of the Berger Acceptance Scales and that the existential-ontological dimension warrants further study.