Exploitation of mortality salience in communication on climate change

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hussein Akil ◽  
Philippe Robert-Demontrond ◽  
Julien Bouillé
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Consumption Choices ◽  
Cultural Worldviews ◽  
Consumer Choices

This research focuses on the effectiveness of anxiety-inducing communication for mobilizing consumers against climate change. Based on terror management theory (TMT), we show that this register can be counterproductive in generating consumer choices that run counter to pro-environmental logics. In particular, we report the results of an experiment ( N = 132) testing the influence of the type of communication (anxiogenic vs informative) on consumer choices (pro-materialistic vs pro-environmental). The results reveal that people’s consumption choices depend on their cultural worldviews (i.e. materialistic vs environmentalist) and the type of communication used. The effectiveness of communication strategies on climate change is then discussed in terms of people’s cultural worldview.

scholarly journals Mindfulness of Death as a Tool for Mortality Salience Induction with Reference to Terror Management Theory

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 353
Author(s):  
Hyun Gong Moon
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Social Attitudes ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Mindfulness Of Death

In this article, I argue that “mindfulness of death” (maraṇasati) can be a tool to induce mortality salience and can have a positive psychological impact. The mindfulness of death is described in detail in the early Buddhist texts Aṅguttara Nikāya and Visuddhimagga. The texts stress that death should be consciously connected with temporality and mindfulness. Here, I look at the mindfulness of death in relation to the mortality salience of terror management theory. “Mortality salience” is a term proposed in terror management theory that means “the state of conscious activation of the thoughts of death”. In addition, after conscious activation of the thought of death, I examine the psychological changes, such as the increase of pro-social attitudes which emphasizes ethics and morality, and the emphasis on the intrinsic value of life due to the operation of a cultural worldview and self-esteem. In this paper, I conclude that mindfulness of death can be an effective tool to induce mortality salience.

Mortality Salience and Symbols of Cultural Worldview Affect the Desirability of a Stressful Job: The Ironic Consequences of Terror Management

2012 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 717-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittney Wirth-Petrik ◽  
R. Kim Guenther
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Dental Pain ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Health Campaigns ◽  
Job Description ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Public Health Campaigns

In a study of terror management theory, participants first responded to prompts asking them to imagine their own death or dental pain and later rated the desirability of a generic job described explicitly as extremely stressful. The job description included either an American or foreign company logo. As predicted by terror management theory, the participants shown an American logo ironically desired the stressful job more, having been prompted with reminders of death than with reminders of dental pain. This study is the first to examine terror management theory's prediction of the influence of symbols of cultural worldview on health-related decisions. The authors discuss possible implications of the findings for making unintentionally stress-inducing decisions and for public health campaigns.

scholarly journals Are we truly special and unique? A replication of Goldenberg et al. (2001)

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 191114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Rodríguez-Ferreiro ◽  
Itxaso Barberia ◽  
Jordi González-Guerra ◽  
Miguel A. Vadillo
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Aversive Situation

According to the mortality salience hypothesis of terror management theory, reminders of our future death increase the necessity to validate our cultural worldview and to enhance our self-esteem. In Experiment 2 of the study ‘I am not an animal: Mortality salience, disgust, and the denial of human creatureliness’, Goldenberg et al. (Goldenberg et al. 2001 J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 130 , 427–435. ( doi:10.1037/0096-3445.130.3.427 )) observed that participants primed with questions about their death provided more positive evaluations to an essay describing humans as distinct from animals than control participants presented with questions regarding another aversive situation. In a replication of this experiment conducted with 128 volunteers, we did not observe evidence for a mortality salience effect.

Subliminal Exposure to Death-Related Stimuli Increases Defense of the Cultural Worldview

1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 379-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Arndt ◽  
Jeff Greenberg ◽  
Tom Pyszczynski ◽  
Sheldon Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Subliminal Stimulus ◽  
Pain Stimuli

Three experiments reported here provide empirical support for the hypothesis derived from terror management theory that unconscious concerns about death motivate allegiance to cultural beliefs Study 1 contrasted exposure to a subliminal death-related stimulus, a standard mortality-salience treatment, and a neutral subliminal stimulus, and found that both the subliminal and the standard reminder of mortality led to more favorable evaluations of people who praised subjects' cultural worldview and more unfavorable evaluations of those who challenged it Study 2 replicated this finding by comparing the effects of exposure to subliminal death stimuli and subliminal pain stimuli Study 3 contrasted subliminal death stimuli, supraliminal death stimuli, and subliminal pain stimuli and found that only subliminal death stimuli produced these effects

scholarly journals Behavioral Effects of Mortality Salience: An Experimental Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Leila E. Zein ◽  
Hussein Akil ◽  
Said Hussein
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Behavioral Effects ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Consumer Behaviors ◽  
Consumption Choices ◽  
The Impact

The study is intended to explain the effect of Mortality Salience (MS) on consumer behaviors. In a first part, we present a state of the art of Terror Management Theory (TMT) and its contributions in management sciences by focusing on the impact of MS on consumption. In a second part, we illustrate the results of an experiment testing the effect of death reminders on consumption choices. The results of the experiment show that the reminders of death generate, for the most part of participants, pro-materialistic consumption choices. Based on these results, we highlight the effect the death reminders can generate on Lebanese consumers.

scholarly journals Terror Management Theory

Psychology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheldon Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Symbolic Immortality ◽  
Death Awareness ◽  
Intellectual Abilities ◽  
Cultural Worldviews

Terror management theory posits that the juxtaposition of an inclination toward self-preservation with the highly developed intellectual abilities that make humans aware of their vulnerabilities and inevitable death creates the potential for paralyzing terror. One of the most important functions of cultural worldviews is to manage the terror engendered by death awareness. This is accomplished primarily through the cultural mechanism of self-esteem, which consists of the belief that one is a valuable contributor to a meaningful universe, and hence eligible for literal and/or symbolic immortality. Effective terror management requires, first, faith in a meaningful conception of reality (the cultural worldview), and second, belief that one is meeting the standards of value prescribed by that worldview (self-esteem). Because of the protection from the potential for terror that these psychological structures afford, people are motivated to maintain faith in their cultural worldviews and satisfy the standards of value associated with them.

scholarly journals Mortality Salience Increases Belief in a Just World but Not Schadenfreude in Response to a Natural Disaster Affecting a Religious Out-group

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan F. Bassett ◽  
Kelly L. Cate
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Just World ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Christian Students

This study examined the hypothesis derived from Terror Management Theory that reminders of death would influence both belief in a just world and Schadenfreude, in response to reading about members of a religious out-group affect by a natural disaster. Christian students (N = 88, Mage = 19.9) were primed with thoughts of death or dental pain before reading about a natural disaster that destroyed either a Christian Church or an Islamic Mosque. Participants then completed measures of belief in a just world and schadenfreude. Mortality salience did not affect schadenfreude but social desirability may have masked this effect. Mortality salience did increase beliefs in a just world when a natural disaster affected a religious out-group, suggesting that cultural worldview may be buttressed by evidence that bad things happen to proponents of opposing belief systems.

scholarly journals The end of immortality - Death dating and defense preprint

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Frischlich ◽  
Diana Rieger ◽  
Gary Bente
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Interpersonal Level

Terror management theory (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986) posits that individuals defend against death-anxieties by striving for (symbolic) immortality. Immortality is promised by a symbolic anxiety buffer, which entails one’s (a) cultural worldview; (b) self-esteem; and (c) intimate relationships. Under conditions of mortality salience (MS), individuals prefer potential partners who validate their symbolic anxiety buffer (or are similar to them) over those who challenge it (or are different). Potential partners can be different on the intergroup level (i.e., out-group members) and on the interpersonal level (i.e., having different attitudes). Greenberg et al. (1986) suggested intergroup differences to pose a larger threat than interpersonal differences. So far, the relative threat resulting from differences on both levels has not been tested directly. In the current study, N = 195 women were randomly assigned to an MS (versus control) condition and shown a potential online date following a 2(group-membership) × 2(interpersonal similarity) design. Individuals’ (a) need for worldview validation; (b) state self-esteem; and (c) dating interest was measured. The results showed threats to the symbolic anxiety buffer due to intergroup but not due to interpersonal differences. Findings were obtained for validation needs and self-esteem but not for dating interest. Implications are discussed. Keywords: mortality salience, online dating, out-group status, attitudinal similarity, self-esteem, cultural worldview validation

Vicarious Belongingness

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Kneer ◽  
Inna Hemme ◽  
Gary Bente
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Mere Exposure ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Cultural Worldview

There is empirical evidence that mortality salience (MS) influences effects of advertisements. For instance, mere exposure to high-value goods can enhance cultural worldview and self-esteem and thus act as a buffer against existential anguish. Besides cultural worldview and self-esteem, close relationships can help to reduce existential anguish. Drawing upon terror management theory (TMT), the current study addressed the question of whether MS combined with emotional commercials influences perception of the ads as well as further behavior. We compared the effects of socioemotional versus informational ads after MS induction, measuring perceived emotionality of the ads, evaluation of ads and products, recall, and buying intention. Significant effects were found in all outcome variables, except for recall, supporting the hypothesis that under MS induction, commercials with a socioemotional content can enhance advertisement impact.

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