6533b7d3fe1ef96bd12609e3
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Perceived collective continuity and ingroup identification as defence against death awareness
Mhairi BoweMarina HerreraFabio Sanisubject
Value (ethics)Allgemeine PsychologieSociology and Political ScienceSocial Psychologymedia_common.quotation_subjectTerror management theoryPerceived collective continuity; Group identification; Terror management theory; Social identity; Symbolic immortalityIngroups and outgroupsSocial groupddc:150PsychologiePerceptionMortality saliencemedicineAnxietyPsychologyMeaning (existential)medicine.symptomPsychologySocial psychologyGeneral Psychologymedia_commondescription
"Perhaps unique among the animal species, humans are aware that they will ultimately die. Terror management theory (TMT) posits that investing in a social group helps people to manage paralysing anxiety stemming from death awareness. In line with this proposition, research to date has shown that when reminded of their own mortality, people increase their identification with a relevant group and defend its beliefs, values, and practices. In the reported study, we demonstrate that a mortality salience induction enhances people’s perceptions of group temporal endurance—or perceived collective continuity (PCC), as we define it. Enhanced PCC leads, in turn, to enhanced group identification. This is in line with the TMT assumption that death awareness leads people to invest in a social group because this constitutes a temporally enduring meaning-system that imbues life with meaning, order, and permanence, and promises death transcendence to those who meet the prescribed standards of value." [author's abstract]
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-01-01 |