Search results for "mortality salience"

Perceived collective continuity and ingroup identification as defence against death awareness

2008

"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…

Would you fancy a premium five o’clock after the funeral? Application of Terror Management Theory in daily shopping decisions

2018

The present study has investigated how fear-of-death activation affected consumer food product choices. Undergraduate students (N = 130; Mage = 22.7; Meage = 21) differing on the conscious fear of death level participated in this study. The participants were divided into two experimental and one control groups. In first experimental group fear of death was induced by asking the participants to read an euthanasia story, in second experimental group by asking them to picture their own death. All experimental groups filled a fear of death personality measure prior to the experiment. Afterwards, participants had to indicate their usual shopping preferences, by choosing between several standard …

WOULD YOU FANCY A PREMIUM FIVE O’CLOCK AFTER THE FUNERAL? APPLICATION OF TERROR MANAGEMENT THEORY IN DAILY SHOPPING DECISIONS

2018

Przedstawione badanie weryfikowało, jak aktywizacja myślenia o śmierci wpły­wała na wybory zakupowe produktów spożywczych. W badaniu wzięli udział studenci (N = 130; Mage = 22,7; Meage = 21) różniący się pod względem poziomu świadomego lęku przed śmiercią. Uczestnicy zostali podzieleni na dwie grupy eksperymentalne i jedną kontrolną. Nie aktywizowano myślenia o śmierci w grupie kontrolnej. W pierwszej grupie eksperymentalnej aktywizowano myślenie o śmierci przy pomocy historii o eutanazji, w drugiej zaś poprzez prośbę wyobrażenia sobie własnej śmierci. Grupy eksperymentalne przed przystąpieniem do eksperymentu wypełniały kwestionariusz lęku przed śmiercią. Następnie badani mieli określić sw…

Why Does Ingroup Identification Shield People from Death Anxiety?

2013

Research to date guided by terror management theory has demonstrated that mortality salience increases ingroup identification. However, the process that leads from death reminders to group investment has remained underinvestigated. We tested a model in which mortality salience increased the perceived continuity of the group while at the same time strengthening the perception of group entitativity. In turn, higher perceived group entitativity led to enhanced ingroup identification. Three-path mediation analysis showed that mortality salience transmitted its effects onto ingroup identification indirectly, progressing first through perceived collective continuity and then through ingroup enti…

Modelling terror management theory: computer simulations of the impact of mortality salience on religiosity

2017

ABSTRACTThis article outlines the development – and reports on the experimental findings – of two computational models designed to simulate the dynamic systems and behavioural patterns identified and clarified by research on terror management theory. The causal architectures of these models are informed by empirical research on the effects of mortality salience on “religiosity” (and vice versa). They are also informed by research on the way in which perception of personal and environmental hazards activate evolved cognitive and coalitional precautionary systems that can intensify anxiety-alleviating behaviours such as imaginative engagement with supernatural agents postulated within a relig…

2016

How do individuals emotionally cope with the imminent real-world salience of mortality? DeWall and Baumeister as well as Kashdan and colleagues previously provided support that an increased use of positive emotion words serves as a way to protect and defend against mortality salience of one’s own contemplated death. Although these studies provide important insights into the psychological dynamics of mortality salience, it remains an open question how individuals cope with the immense threat of mortality prior to their imminent actual death. In the present research, we therefore analyzed positivity in the final words spoken immediately before execution by 407 death row inmates in Texas. By u…