Death, ideology, and worldview: Evidence of death anxiety but not mortality salience effects on political ideology and worldview

Research has suggested that the sense of threat aroused by reminders of death can lead to worldview defense and elevated conservatism. The current studies disentangled the effects of mortality salience and death anxiety on two core components of conservatism—resistance to change and acceptance of inequality—and on the broader worldviews of normativism and humanism. Study 1 (N = 186), which used a mortality salience manipulation, and Study 2 (N = 354), which measured self-reported death anxiety, suggested that existential threat was associated particularly with resistance to change and normativism, consistent with theoretical expectations, in samples of Swedish adults. The results indicated that conservative shift had occurred predominantly among left-wingers. However, Study 3, which was a pre-registered online replication of Study 1 with respondents from the United Kingdom, yielded no evidence for any effects of mortality salience on ideology (N = 319) or worldview (N = 199). An internal pre-registered meta-analysis of mortality salience effects indicated that mortality salience had a marginally significant effect only on normativism. Taken together, the results provided little clear evidence of mortality salience effects on ideological preferences and worldviews, but dispositional death anxiety was associated with resistance to change, normativism, and acceptance of inequality particularly among leftists.

Defending one’s worldviews under mortality salience – Testing the validity of an established idea

Terror management theory (TMT) posits that mortality salience (MS) leads to more negative perceptions of persons who oppose one’s worldview and to more positive perceptions of persons who confirm one’s worldview. Recent failed replications of classic findings have thrown into question empirical validity for this established idea. We believe, that there are crucial methodological and theoretical aspects that have been neglected in these studies which limit their explanatory power; thus, the studies of this registered report aimed to address these issues and to directly test the worldview defense hypothesis. First, we conducted two preregistered lab studies applying the classic worldview defense paradigm. The stimulus material (worldview-confirming and -opposing essays) was previously validated for students at a German university. In both studies, the MS manipulation (between-subjects) was followed by a distraction phase. Then, in Study 1 (N = 131), each participant read both essays (within-subjects). In Study 2 (N = 276), the essays were manipulated between-subjects. Credibility attribution towards the author was assessed as the dependent variable. In both studies, the expected interaction effects were not significant. In a third highly powered (registered) study (N = 1356), we used a previously validated worldview-opposing essay. The five classic worldview defense items served as the main dependent measure. The MS effect was not significant. Bayesian analyses favored the null hypothesis. An internal meta-analysis revealed a very small (Hedges’ g = .09) but nonsignificant (p = .058) effect of MS. Altogether, the presented studies reveal challenges in providing strong evidence for this established idea.

Physical Warmth Attenuates Ethnocentric Bias under Mortality Salience: An Embodied Terror Management Perspective

Research indicates that individuals often deal with mortality salience by affirming beliefs in national or cultural superiority (worldview defense). Because worldview defense may be associated with negative consequences (discrimination), it is important to identify alternative means to deal with death-related thoughts. In line with an embodied terror management perspective, we evaluate for the first time the role of physical warmth in reducing defensive reaction to mortality salience. We predicted that, like social affiliation (social warmth), physical warmth could reduce worldview defense when mortality is salient. In this exploratory (preregistered) study, 202 French participants were primed with death-related thoughts, or an aversive control topic, in a heated room or a non-heated room. The main outcome was worldview defense (ethnocentric bias). We found no main effect of mortality salience on worldview defense. However, physical warmth reduced worldview defense when mortality was salient. Implications for an embodied terror management perspective are discussed.

To the Victors Go the Existential Spoils: The Mental-Health Benefits of Cultural Worldview Defense for People WHO Successfully Meet Cultural Standards and Valued Goals

Introduction: Research in support of terror management theory suggests that mortality concerns will activate symbolic defenses associated with cultural worldviews, and when these defenses are activated, mental health will benefit. However, no study to date has examined this process in full. We filled this gap, while testing the moderating effect of feeling successful vis-à-vis cultural value-standards. Method: In two studies, we hypothesized that participants who feel successful at meeting cultural standards would engage cultural worldview defense (WVD) following mortality salience (MS), and as a consequence of their defensiveness, would experience greater mental health. Results: In Study 1, MS increased pro-American WVD only among relatively wealthy participants, which in turn reduced death-thought accessibility. In Study 2, MS increased pro-American WVD only among participants primed with felt success (vs. failure), which in turn reduced anxiety and depression. Conclusions: Culture can relieve death-related distress and promote mental health to the extent that it provides feelings of success.

Worldview Defense, Prejudice, and Derogating Others

In the literature on prejudice and derogatory reactions, two prominent lines of research can be distinguished, one focusing on the expression and endorsement of (mostly) negative stereotypes and prejudice, and one zooming in on how defense of cultural worldviews can lead to derogatory reactions toward those who are different from ourselves. Research on both stereotypes/prejudice and cultural worldviews reveals how personal uncertainty can lead to the occurrence of derogatory reactions. In research on prejudice, the automaticity of stereotyping and prejudice has been the subject of debate. Some scholars argue for the inevitability of stereotyping, as these processes are assumed to be automatic and inevitable. By contrast, other scholars distinguish automatic stereotype activation from more controlled stereotype endorsement. Importantly, stereotype activation may be altered by stereotype-negation training reducing the expression of prejudice. In worldview defense research, it is shown how uncertainty-related motives and other worldview threats are related to the expression of derogatory reactions toward those who fall outside our scope of justice. In contemporary society, people frequently have to deal with feelings of personal uncertainty, especially regarding future-oriented delayed outcomes. To cope with these feelings, people adhere to their cultural worldviews. These belief systems enable people to strive for long-term goals, but also make them more vulnerable to expressing prejudice and other derogatory reactions. A wealth of research shows that when people’s worldviews are threatened, they tend to react more rigidly and negatively toward others, especially toward those who belong to an outgroup. For example, if one believes that the world is inherently just (i.e. in studies looking at “just world beliefs”), interacting with innocent victims of crimes can threaten this worldview. In the face of this conflict, people sometimes respond in derogatory and prejudiced ways toward those victims in order to uphold their belief that the world is a just place where bad things can only happen to bad people. Importantly, alleviating feelings of personal uncertainty (either by affirming personal certainty or by refocusing attention toward other aspects of an unjust situation) can reduce derogatory reactions and instigate benevolent reactions focused on helping those who are less well off.

Natural, But Not Supernatural, Literal Immortality Affirmation Attenuates Mortality Salience Effects on Worldview Defense in Atheists

The present research explored whether atheists managing death awareness would be effectively buffered by affirmations of supernatural and/or natural literal immortality. Prior data were reanalyzed, revealing ambiguous results, so further experiments were conducted. In Study 1 ( n = 382), atheists were randomly assigned to a supernatural afterlife-confirmed (vs. afterlife-disconfirmed) prime, an MS (vs. control topic) prime, and then given an opportunity to engage in secular worldview defense. In Study 2 ( n = 360), atheists were randomly assigned to supernatural (afterlife) versus natural (medical indefinite life extension; MILE) immortality prime, an MS (vs. control topic) prime, and then given an opportunity to engage in secular worldview defense. Atheists managing death awareness increased worldview defense in the supernatural/afterlife conditions but that effect was eliminated in the MILE condition. These findings are consistent with the terror management theory perspective on worldview defense. Implications for theory and research are discussed.