Social Psychology: Terror Management Theory

denial of death, becker

how do people/cultures react to reality of death

try to ignore/avoid

relevant researchers: greenberg, fizinsky, solomon

core issue:

• existential dilemma: instinct for self-preservation vs the intelligence and self-awareness to know that we will die

• distressing, anxiety provoking

• how do we cope?

transcending death:

• spiritual: soul, heavan

• secular: offspring, achievements, identification with collective

proposals of terror management

having a cultural world view manages death anxiety by providing meaning and purpose to life by delineating how life should be lived

prescribing a set of standards

basis for personal significance

exemplifying a cultural view acts as a buffer to death anxiety

instinct for survival vs knowing inevitable death: self-preservation

mechanisms of terror management

cultural world view adds: order, meaning permanence

self-esteem: meeting cultural standards

provocative implication: reason we have culture and self esteem is the service of terror management

• buffer against anxiety of death

priming mortality salience study

does it affect world views/self esteem

terror management and reactions to those who violate or uphold cultural values, roseblat, greenberg, solomon, pyzcynski, lyon 1989

• used municipal court judges

• presented case of prostitute, no community ties, prior conviction, no failures to appear in court

  • how much is her bond until court $?

• control condition: 50$

• mortality salience: 455$

• judges reminded of their mortality set higher bond due to threat to cultural world views

  • more influenced by the manipulation → bigger, thought about their morals

replication

• students, replicate bond for prostitute

• reward for a woman who phones crime hotline about mugger who was her neighbour, she is afraid, he has committed violent crimes

• morality salience: set award 3x higher than control condition

  • encouraged positivity and encouragement for those who fit the cultural worldview

terror management study greenberg

christians form impressions of a christian and a jew

intelligent, knowledge of current events, morality, adjustment, likeable, enjoy working with the person

manipulate mortality salience

looking at jewish person: mortality salience makes a more negative impression

• increases positive impression about someone like you

• no effect in control condition

death thought accessibility, hayes

morality salience increases unconscious DTA

bolstering cultural world views/self esteem would decrease DTA

DTA is managed:

• proximal defense: conscious, rational, use distraction

  • problem: thoughts remain unconsciously accessible

• distal defense: unconscious, use cultural world views/self-esteem

• trivial defense

white bear study, waker

shown a white bear, told to think of anything other than the white bear

effect happens after the first five minutes

• first 5 min: suppress thoughts of white bear

told after to think about anything you want after → rebound effect: thinking more about the white bear than the first 5 minutes

delay issue (white bear study)

conscious priming the delay issue

• conscious vs non-conscious thoughts of death

  • conscious primes: distraction, trivialized it

    • first five minutes they can refute it

    • suppression rebound effect

  • non-conscious primes: correlational word, then flash the word dead

    • didn’t need five minute period to get people past distraction

    • not aware of it, cannot defend it

• need to wait a few minutes after the prime

• immediate: suppress thoughts

• subsequent hyper-accessibility, rebound effect

• bypass proximal defenses because not aware defenses needed

• distraction and cognitive load increases effects

  • work in similar way as suppression rebound

delicate procedure

• delay

• what constitutes world view defense

• does the experimenter appear to represent cultural world views

• ex. seen as authority figure or affirming science

subliminal exposure to death related stimuli, arndt

two words flash across the screen

if they are related, should press right key vs unrelated = press left key

if not aware = cannot defend against it → don’t have delay issue

death/dead would flash in between words

control words in control condition

subliminal primes elicited the same effect as the original terror management paradigm

ex. evaluation of pro-us essay writer minus anti-us essay writer

• same effect with pain as the control prime

• more positive about use with mortality salience

subliminal prime addresses delay issue

• bypass proximal defenses because not aware defenses needed

• not refuting or putting a positive spin on mortality salience

whisteling in the dark, psyzinski

if you have a minority view, will you overestimate how many people from your culture share your view

• morality salient = want to be majority

in the us, what if you have a minority view about teaching christian values in public schools

stop people in the street

• 100 m before funeral home

  • no effect

• in front of funeral home

  • overestimated if you had a minority view

• 100m after funeral home

reverse this: threatens world view?

• death is more accessible = greater implicit death thought accessibility

death thoughts

when you threatened canada → more words completed with death words than controlled words

me not me tasks: technique used to get at how quickly a word related to concept being studied comes to mind

Is death the Worm at the Core? Schimel et al, 2007

• If cultural world view is a buffer against existential threat

• Then what if the cultural world view is threatened?

• Death thought accessibility

• Review websites and test for memory

  • Poo on You Canucks study: all canadian participants

  • Down with Canada vs Down with Australia

  • Everyone hates Canada and here are a few reasons why.

    • Food (poutine)

    • Hockey

    • Health care

    • Politeness

accessibility: fast means a smaller number

• anti-canada condition were faster

israelis in gaza (real world impact of TMT)

hirschberger and ein-dor

• israel retreated from gaza

  • bar-ilan university hyst prior to withdrawal

  • recruit participants were pro-settlement and religious

  • israeli world view and religious settlers consistent for decades: wanted them in gaza

  • now inconsistent between state and settlers ideology: withdrawn

• resolve dissonance with denial

  • high denial: believed this wasn’t going to happen

    • low denial: this is happening

  • short term strategy

death prime vs pain (control condition)

• participants were high exposure to the disengagement plan

• high denial: not supportive in control condition

  • morality made salient and high denial: higher ratings legitimizing violent actions

study 2: settlers in 6 settlements in gaza, 3 months before withdrawal

• denial as short term defense

• postpones need to reconcile world view

• mortality salience threatens fragile beliefs

• settlers would not support violence otherwise

• shown in second study using settlers where denial intact (control condition = low support for violence)

9/11 (real world impacts of TMT)

greenberg

see large scale death and destruction

• cultural world view attacked

  • symbols of the cultural world view destroyed

where is the anxiety buffer?

expect increase patriotism, search for meaning, desire for justice/vengence, increase altruism (ingroup), lash out at those symbolically connected to the attackers, ingroup becomes americans (decrease prejudice toward african americans)

• threaten cultural worldview then increase DTA

voting behaviour (real world impact of TMT)

cohen 2004

types of leaders

• charismtic leader: you are part of a special state, special nation

• task oriented: i can accomplish goals i set out

• relationship: set goals that are realistic but challenging, i know everyone can make a difference, worry about citizen well-being

charismatic leader was antidote to mortality

how many votes by condition

• charismatic: more in morality condition, big change

• task oriented: more in control condition, no huge change

• relationship oriented: more in control condition

covid-19 (real world impact of TMT)

pyszczynsky

death thoughts conscious proximal defense activated

• lots of media

people could deny vulnerability

• will still be there

engage in healthy behaviour

what makes it harder to cope: morality made salient

• challenges to world view, chaos

  • social connections, meanings of life

• job loss

• social isolation goals

  • need close relationships during morality salience→ isolation

new normal:

• adapt: avoid threat but still pursue meaningful goals

• acknowledge distress may prompt new ways of coping

anxiety buffers (ways of coping with TMT)

putting the terror in terror, julh 2016

does mortality increase anxiety → yes

factors buffer against anxiety

• meaning in life

• nostalgia: longing for the past

• interdependence

  • relationally interdependent self-construal: is your sense of self based on your relationships with others

    • when i think of myself, i think of myself in terms of connections with family and friends

    • females: more pictures of themselves with other peoples

    • males: more pictures of themselves individually

• self-esteem

those with less buffers = existential anxiety

immortality (ways of coping with TMT)

literal vs symbolic immortality, deschesne

manipulate essays arguing in favour of vs against the belief in an afterlife

after pro-afterlife essay → inoculated against morality salience manipulation

morality increased acceptance of self esteem boosting feedback, but not if read pro-afterlife essay

religiosity (ways of coping with TMT)

terror management and intrinsic religiosity, jonas and fisher

measure religiosity: affirmed

• morality salience does not trigger cultural world view defense

my religious beliefs are what lie behind my whole approach to life

decreased DTA and world view defense if affirm religious belief

post-traumatic growth (ways of coping with TMT)

goal shifts following reminders of morality: post traumatic growth ptg and tmt, lykins

ptg encounter with death: cancer, hiv, house fire, traffic accident, bone marrow transplant

change → greater appreciation for life, change priorities, more intimate relationships

intrinsic goals: build closer relationships, make the world better, build meaningful lasting resources

extrinsic goals: physical attractiveness, wealth, materialism

• illusion of invulnerability

  • earthquake leads to shift to intrinsic

  • 9/11 shift to intrinsic

  • what about university student sample repeatedly reflecting on death

• belief in a just world: people get what they deserve

  • prostitute vs nun (shouldn’t been out so late/in part of town → needed explanation for innocent victim)

repeated exposure (ways of coping with TMT)

goal shifts following reminders of mortality, Lykins

death reflection

• Building fire

• Attempt to escape

• Eventually succumb

• Thoughts, emotions, how would they handle final moments

• How would family and friends react to this happening

repeated over 6 days

longer period of time, more processing about death than standard TMT studies

conditions: death reflection, mortality salience, dental pain

Short term confrontation with death vs longer period of death reflection

• Some evidence of some people embracing extrinsic, material things and greed when mortality is salient.

bottom line: sustained thought about death is likely different psychologically than subtle and occasional thought that works through the unconscious.

• unclear how it works

research on culture world views

often in the real world, we have more than one way to bolster world view

• in experiments: 1

how do we decide whether a particular world view defense fits for you? does the defense fit with the social norms of your world

underlying terror management

What actually underlies the effects of mortality salience?

Is it about dying or does dying represent something else?

Ultimate severing of social connection

We fear being alone, socially excluded, isolated

Secure attachment and commitment protect against mortality salience.