Handbook of the Science of Existential Psychology (2026)

Showcasing cutting-edge research in a dynamic area, this authoritative volume explores how people navigate psychological experiences that are fundamentally about the nature of existence. In 65 compelling chapters, preeminent editors and contributors describe the field's conceptual foundations, methods, and contemporary findings. The Handbook is focused on issues of "being and becoming" in mental and social life, including: time, aging, and death; freedom, authenticity, and moral responsibility; isolation, uncertainty, and shared reality; culture, the self, and identity; the quest for meaning and purpose; religion and spirituality; and awe, personal growth, and what comprises the "good life." 

Reviews

“This is the most comprehensive and useful volume on existential psychology to date. The Handbook shows how questions about mortality, freedom, meaning, and identity shape thought and behavior across nearly every area of psychology. The structure makes it easy to assign individual chapters or full sections in advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level courses on the self, moral psychology, religion, philosophy, or mental health. The writing is clear, evidence based, and intellectually serious, while still accessible to students. An ideal book for sparking discussion, building foundations in psychological theory, and connecting psychology to the real world.”
—Kurt Gray, PhD, Weary Foundation Endowed Chair in Social Psychology, The Ohio State University

“This outstanding handbook brings the rigors and sophistication of psychological science to the most profound aspects of the human predicament, including freedom, death, uncertainty, aging, and authenticity. Under the deft hands of a stellar editorial team, and with an impressive lineup of contributors, the volume explores topics that, despite being quintessentially psychological, have been left until recently to philosophers, novelists, and poets. An essential read for scholars and students interested in cutting-edge psychological insights into the mysteries of human nature and human adaptation in our quickly changing world.”
—Arie W. Kruglanski, PhD, Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park

“Sixty-five remarkable chapters on life, death, and everything in between! Love and work, meaning and loss, knowledge and ignorance, freedom and oppression, happiness and misery, longing and anxiety, self-esteem and attachment, sex and objectification, morality and courage, acceptance and exclusion, politics and religion, aging and nostalgia, hope and despair, suicide and grief. It’s all here. The science of existential psychology is alive and well, and we need it now more than ever.”
—John T. Jost, PhD, Department of Psychology, New York University