A Terror Management Theory Perspective on Human Motivation

2019 ◽  
pp. 66-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Pyszczynski ◽  
Pelin Kesebir ◽  
McKenzie Lockett
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Existential Anxiety ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Human Motivation ◽  
And Behavior

The capacity for self-reflection, which plays an important role in human self-regulation, also leads people to become aware of the limitations of their existence. Awareness of the conflict between one’s desires (e.g., to live) and the limitations of existence (e.g., the inevitability of death) creates the potential for existential anxiety. This chapter reviews how this anxiety affects human motivation and behavior in a variety of life domains. Terror management theory and research suggest that transcending death and protecting oneself against existential anxiety are potent needs. This protection is provided by an anxiety-buffering system, which provides people a sense of meaning and value that function to shield them against these concerns. The chapter reviews evidence regarding the role of death and other existential concerns in four domains of existence: physical, personal, social, and spiritual. Because self-awareness is a prerequisite for existential anxiety, escaping or changing the nature of self-awareness can also be an effective way to manage the problems of life and death.

The Role of Death in Life: Existential Aspects of Human Motivation

2012 ◽  
pp. 42-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pelin Kesebir ◽  
Tom Pyszczynski
Keyword(s):  
Self Regulation ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Existential Anxiety ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Human Motivation ◽  
And Behavior

The capacity for self-reflection, which plays an important role in human self-regulation, also leads people to become aware of the limitations of their existence. Awareness of the conflict between one's desires (e.g., to live) and the limitations of existence (e.g., the inevitability of death) creates the potential for existential anxiety. In this chapter, we review how this anxiety affects human motivation and behavior in a variety of life domains. Terror management theory and research suggest that transcending death and protecting oneself against existential anxiety are potent needs. This protection is provided by an anxiety-buffering system, which imbues people with a sense of meaning and value that function to shield them against these concerns. We review evidence of how the buffering system protects against existential anxiety in four dimensions of existence: the physical, personal, social, and spiritual domains. Because self-awareness is a prerequisite for existential anxiety, escaping self-awareness can also be an effective way to obviate the problem of existence. After elaborating on how existential anxiety can motivate escape from self-awareness, we conclude the chapter with a discussion of remaining issues and directions for future research and theory development.

scholarly journals Teaching the Climate Crisis: Existential Considerations

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathryn Van Kessel
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Existential Anxiety ◽  
Ethical Imperative ◽  
The Future ◽  
Climate Crisis

It is urgent that educators in social studies and science (among other disciplines) consider the ethical imperative of teaching the climate crisis—the future is at stake. This article considers a barrier to teaching this contentious topic effectively: existential threat. Through the lens of terror management theory, it becomes clear that climate catastrophe is an understandably fraught topic as it can serve as a reminder of death in two ways. As will be explained in this article, simultaneously such discussions can elicit not only mortality salience from considering the necrocene produced by climate catastrophe, but also existential anxiety arising from worldview threat. This threat can occur when Western assumptions are called into question as well as when there is disagreement between those with any worldviews that differ. After summarizing relevant aspects of terror management theory and analyzing the teaching of the climate crisis as an existential affair, specific strategies to help manage this situation (in and out of the classroom) are explored: providing conceptual tools, narrating cascading emotions, carefully using humor to diffuse anxiety, employing language and phrasing that does not overgeneralize divergent groups, and priming ideas of tolerance and even nurturance of difference.

scholarly journals Terror Management Theory and the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
pp. 002216782095948
Author(s):  
Tom Pyszczynski ◽  
McKenzie Lockett ◽  
Jeff Greenberg ◽  
Sheldon Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Focal Attention ◽  
The Many ◽  
A Minor ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior ◽  
Threat To Life

Terror management theory is focused on the role that awareness of death plays in diverse aspects of life. Here, we discuss the theory’s implications for understanding the widely varying ways in which people have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that regardless of whether one consciously believes that the virus is a major threat to life or only a minor inconvenience, fear of death plays an important role in driving one’s attitudes and behavior related to the virus. We focus on the terror management theory distinction between proximal defenses, which are activated when thoughts of death are in current focal attention and are logically related to the threat at hand, and distal defenses, which are activated when thoughts of death are on the fringes of one’s consciousness and entail the pursuit of meaning, personal value, and close relationships. We use this framework to discuss the many ways in which COVID-19 undermines psychological equanimity, the diverse ways people have responded to this threat, and the role of ineffective terror management in psychological distress and disorder that may emerge in response to the virus.

scholarly journals Age Differences in the Effects of Mortality Salience on the Correspondence Bias

2016 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly Maxfield ◽  
Tom Pyszczynski ◽  
Jeff Greenberg ◽  
Michael N. Bultmann
Keyword(s):  
Age Differences ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Correspondence Bias ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Human Thought ◽  
Age Related ◽  
And Behavior

According to terror management theory, awareness of death affects diverse aspects of human thought and behavior. Studies have shown that older and younger adults differ in how they respond to reminders of their mortality. The present study investigated one hypothesized explanation for these findings: Age-related differences in the tendency to make correspondent inferences. The correspondence bias was assessed in younger and older samples after death-related, negative, or neutral primes. Younger adults displayed increased correspondent inferences following mortality primes, whereas older adults’ inferences were not affected by the reminder of death. As in prior research, age differences were evident in control conditions; however, age differences were eliminated in the death condition. Results support the existence of age-related differences in responses to mortality, with only younger adults displaying increased reliance on simplistic information structuring after a death reminder.

Transactional Experiences of Existential Anxiety as a Barrier to Effective Humanistic Intervention

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noel Hunter ◽  
Tristan V. Barsky
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Emotional Distress ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
The Other ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Emotional Difficulties ◽  
Existential Anxiety ◽  
Humanistic Approach

There are some who criticize mainstream mental health approaches and point out that individuals in distress appear to be getting worse, as opposed to better, while in treatment. Ex-patients often advocate for a person-centered, humanistic approach to working with emotional distress, while clinicians tend to offer a disease-based, deficit-focused model. This article is an exploration of the dynamics between patients and professionals that may be contributing to conflicting perspectives on what constitutes helpful intervention. Specifically, concepts of terror management theory are used to explore how the existential anxieties experienced both by individuals with serious emotional difficulties as well as their treating clinicians, which are consciously or unconsciously avoided in treatment, can reciprocally trigger distressing anxiety in the other. Suggestions are offered as to what could help mitigate this existential stalemate in the psychotherapeutic context.

scholarly journals Nostalgia for a Purpose? A Comparison of Three Theoretical Frameworks in a Lifespan Sample

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 773-774
Author(s):  
Jennifer Turner ◽  
Jessica Kerin ◽  
Kenzie Delposen ◽  
Jennifer Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Diary Study ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Daily Diary Study ◽  
The Past ◽  
Different Types

Abstract Nostalgia is a common experience for most people, but the functions or motivations for nostalgia are unclear. Several theoretical arguments for the purpose of nostalgia have been offered: nostalgia may reduce anxiety or fear of mortality (i.e., Terror Management Theory), resolve developmental conflicts (i.e., ego-integrity vs. despair), or provide a touchstone to the past (i.e., self-continuity). The goal of this study was to compare these theoretical frameworks among young (YA), middle-aged (MA), and older adults’(OA) descriptions of nostalgia and explore whether content of nostalgia differs by age. We hypothesized that YA would report greater amounts of nostalgia related to self-continuity, MA would report more integrity-related nostalgia, and OA would report more Terror Management. Nostalgia recordings (N=593) were collected during a two-week daily diary study in 108 participants (ages 18-78 years; 60.2% women). Recordings were transcribed and then coded by two trained coders (Magreement=87.4%; κ=.66, p<.001) using a rubric containing three typologies of nostalgia: Terror Management, Integrity v. Despair, Self-Continuity. Only n=255 transcripts could be coded within these typologies. Supporting our hypotheses, YA reported more self-continuity (51.5%) than Integrity (39.4%) or Terror Management (9.1%), and MA reported more Integrity (42.0%), than self-continuity (39.5%) or Terror Management (18.5%). Our third hypothesis was not supported: OA reported self-continuity most frequently (47.5%), followed by Integrity (31.9%) and Terror Management (20.6%). Nostalgia may provide a vehicle for self-reflection as people compare the past to the present, and future research should examine whether emphasis on different types of nostalgia has implications for psychological outcomes like wellbeing.

scholarly journals Terror Management Theory: Missiological Applications in Times of Crisis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Robert Dunaetz
Keyword(s):  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
Missio Dei ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Human Motivation ◽  
Christian Worldview

Terror Management Theory seeks to explain the human motivation to find meaning in life. The theory proposes that humans experience anxiety, even terror, when faced with the reality of their own mortality. To manage this anxiety, humans are motivated to adopt worldviews that indicate that they are significant (in contrast to meaningless) and that they will endure beyond death, either figuratively or literally. Global crises, such as natural disasters, terrorism, or war, make human mortality salient on a large scale. In such situations, humans are more than ever motivated to seek an afterlife, to act in a way to be remembered favorably after death, and to identify with communities that will transcend the duration of their own life. These conditions make some individuals especially open to the gospel which explains how humans can experience eternal life, how they can live righteous lives full of love, and how they can fit into both the Christian community and the Missio Dei. Missionaries should use this openness to the gospel in sensitive and loving ways to help victims of global crises discover a solution to the existential terror that they experience when facing their own mortality. The loving response of missionaries is to proclaim the Christian worldview so that people can make sense out of the crisis and respond positively to the gospel.

Perceived Similarity of the Self to Animals, Creativity, and Anxiety—: A Terror Management Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 014616722110632
Author(s):  
Uri Lifshin ◽  
Jeff Greenberg ◽  
Stylianos Syropoulos ◽  
Bernhard Leidner ◽  
Peter J. Helm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
State Anxiety ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
The Self ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Perceived Similarity ◽  
Personality Variable ◽  
Human Motivation

According to terror management theory, humans avoid death anxiety by embedding themselves within cultural worldviews that allow them to perceive themselves as more than mortal animals. However, individuals also differ in their trait-like tendency to dissociate from other animals. In six studies, we tested whether individuals who perceive themselves as more similar to animals (high-perceived similarity of the self to animals [PSSA]) invest more in creativity for terror management than low-PSSA individuals, but are also more vulnerable to experiencing anxiety and existential concerns. Supporting our hypotheses, PSSA was associated with investment in creativity and arts, especially after death primes (Studies 3 and 4). High-PSSA individuals had heightened trait anxiety and death-thought accessibility (Studies 5 and 6), and showed increased state anxiety following a negative feedback about their creativity (Study 6). Findings highlight the role of PSSA as a personality variable predicting human motivation and emotion.

scholarly journals Infodemic: the effect of death-related thoughts on news-sharing

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy J. Lim ◽  
Edison Tan ◽  
Tania Lim
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Existential Anxiety ◽  
Management Framework ◽  
Per Se ◽  
News Sharing

AbstractResearch on the sharing of fake news has primarily focused on the manner in which fake news spreads and the literary style of fake news. These studies, however, do not explain how characteristics of fake news could affect people’s inclination toward sharing these news articles. Drawing on the Terror Management Theory, we proposed that fake news is more likely to elicit death-related thoughts than real news. Consequently, to manage the existential anxiety that had been produced, people share the news articles to feel connected to close others as a way of resolving the existential anxiety. Across three experimental studies (total N = 416), we found that it was not news type per se (i.e., real versus fake news) that influenced news-sharing intentions; instead, it was the increased accessibility to death-related thoughts elicited from the content of news articles that motivated news-sharing. The findings support the Terror Management framework and contribute to the existing literature by providing an empirical examination of the underlying psychological motive behind fake news-sharing tendencies.

Dying to Watch

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laramie D. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Sexual Content ◽  
Entertainment Media ◽  
Sexual Values ◽  
Television Shows ◽  
Sexual Cognitions ◽  
Sexual Media

Research has shown that thoughts about death influence sexual cognitions and some media choices. The present study tested the hypothesis that thoughts about death may affect individuals’ tendency to select or avoid entertainment media programming containing sexual material. In two experiments, thoughts about death (mortality salience [MS]) were manipulated before college undergraduates expressed interest in viewing television shows and movies with varying amounts of sexual content. In both studies, MS was associated with greater overall interest in sexual media content. Although terror management theory would indicate that sexual worldview should moderate this effect, this was not observed to be the case. In addition, MS was not found to affect interest in other types of highly engaging media content including violent and dramatic content. Limitations regarding generalizability are discussed. Results suggest that MS increases a preference for sexual media content, and that this occurs for individuals with diverse sexual values systems. This is discussed in terms of implications for terror management theory and cognitive models of media influence.

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