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ABSTRACT: Building on research suggesting one primary function of religion is the management of death awareness, the present research explored how supernatural beliefs are influenced by the awareness of death, for whom, and how individuals' extant beliefs determine which god(s), if any, are eligible to fulfill that function. In Study 1, death reminders had no effect among Atheists, but enhanced Christians' religiosity, belief in a higher power, and belief in God/Jesus and enhanced denial of Allah and Buddha. Similarly, death reminders increased Muslims' religiosity and belief in a higher power, and led to greater belief in Allah and denial of God/Jesus and Buddha (Study 2). Finally, in Study 3, death reminders motivated Agnostics to increase their religiosity, belief in a higher power, and their faith in God/Jesus, Buddha, and Allah. The studies tested three potential theoretical explanations and were consistent with terror management theory's worldview defense hypothesis. Theoretical implications are discussed.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 06/2012; 38(10):1288-300. · 2.22 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Anxiety-Buffer Disruption Theory (ABDT) posits that posttraumatic stress disorder is associated with a disruption of normal anxiety-buffer functioning produced by traumatic events that produce high levels of dissociation. Two experiments conducted among survivors of the 2005 Zarand earthquake in Iran supported four hypotheses derived from ABDT: (1) dissociation predicts atypical responses to death- and trauma-related thoughts, (2) dissociation predicts stronger affective responses to death- and trauma-related thoughts, (3) PTSD symptom severity 2 years after the event is associated with continued disruption of anxiety-buffer responses, (4) the relationship between dissociation 1 month posttrauma and posttraumatic symptoms 2 years later is mediated by disrupted anxiety-buffering functioning. The role of anxiety-buffer disruption in both clinically significant and seemingly benign but socially problematic responses to traumatic events was discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Psychological Trauma Theory Research Practice and Policy 11/2011; 3(4):329-341. · 0.89 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The present article uses terror management theory (TMT) to explore the psychological, social and cultural forces that lead diverse groups and individuals to endorse, promote and enact violence against innocent individuals. From this perspective, it is the psychological function of religious, ideological, national or ethnic ties that is crucial for understanding how they can lead to hatred and violence. TMT provides an empirically based theoretically driven explanation of how ideological, nationalistic and religious values combine with historical events and concrete grievances to make terrorist violence appealing to those facing individual or group suffering. Research is presented which suggests that many of the same psychological forces that lead terrorists to their violent actions also lead to counter-terrorist policies that create massive collateral damage. This collateral damage appears to further escalate the cycle of violence and may aid the targets of those attacks in recruiting people for the terrorist cause. After examining the issues that inspire such violence, research is presented that suggests possible avenues to decrease support for actions that prolong inter-group conflicts.
PSN: Social Movements (Topic). 02/2011;
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ABSTRACT: The present chapter reviews research concerning the existential motivations for terrorism and militarism based on Terror Management Theory (TMT). Whereas terrorism and militarism entail methods of extreme violence, TMT entails a set of psychological processes that help protect the self from the aversive awareness of mortality. TMT proposes that humans develop and maintain cultural worldviews and hold strong ties to their social groups because these constructs help individuals psychologically transcend death by providing a link to something larger and longer lasting than the self. Thus, in some cases, this existential fear may intensify identification with radical causes (e.g., ethnic, nationalist, or religious) in an attempt to achieve such a sense of symbolic immortality. Further, challenges to the efficacy of one's worldview or the esteem of one's social group undermine these death-denying qualities, resulting in a sense of humiliation or perceived injustice that may be attenuated by violent attempts at regaining agency, esteem, and dignity. This chapter describes both laboratory research and real-world examples of TMT processes that factor into increases in risk-taking, support for both religious and secular terrorist activity and militarism, and willingness to selfsacrifice to protect one's way of life.
PSN: Political Psychology (Topic). 02/2011;
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ABSTRACT: The present experiment examined the effects of mortality salience and social consensus on attitudes toward members of an out‐group. One‐hundred and fifty participants from two universities in Iran took part in a 2 (mortality salience or dental pain) × 3 (social consensus for, consensus against or no information) between‐subjects design. Participants were primed with either death or pain, and then read that the majority of Iranians supported martyrdom attacks against the United States, the majority was against these types of attacks or no information was provided. Results indicated that mortality salience led to more support for violence martyrdom attacks in the no information and high social support for martyrdom conditions, but had no effect on support for such attacks when participants were led to believe that most of the people in their country opposed such tactics. Implications for terror management theory and peaceful solutions to intergroup conflict are discussed.
Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression 01/2010; 2(1):30-37.
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ABSTRACT: a b s t r a c t Religious fundamentalism has been shown to be associated with higher levels of prejudice, ethnocentrism, and militarism, in spite of the compassionate values promoted by the religious faiths that most fundamen-talists believe in. Based on terror management theory, we hypothesized that priming these compassionate values would encourage a shift toward less support for violent solutions to the current Middle Eastern con-flict, especially when they are combined with reminders of one's mortality. Study 1 demonstrated that among Americans, religious fundamentalism was associated with greater support for extreme military interventions, except when participants were reminded of their mortality and primed with compassionate religious values. The combination of mortality salience and compassionate religious values led to significant decreases in support for such interventions among high but not low fundamentalists. Study 2 replicated this finding and showed that it depends on the association of the compassionate values with an authoritative religious source; presentation of these values in a secular context had no effect on fundamentalists. Study 3 replicated these effects in a sample of Iranian Shiite Muslims: although a reminder of death increased anti-Western attitudes among participants primed with secular compassionate values, it decreased anti-Wes-tern attitudes among those primed with compassionate values from the Koran. Ó 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ''they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:4) Throughout history, religion has played an influential and sometimes destructive role in human affairs (Juergensmeyer, 2003). For centuries, fundamentalists of diverse religious creeds have been prominent supporters of, and sometimes active partici-pants in, sectarian violence, terrorism, and international warfare (Sacks, 2003). Research has shown religious fundamentalism to be positively associated with racial prejudice (e.g., Altemeyer & Hunsberger, 1992; Wylie & Forest, 1992), religious ethnocentrism (Altemeyer, 2003), and support for militarism (e.g., Henderson-King, Henderson-King, Bolea, Koches, & Kauffman, 2004). The antagonistic and often violent tactics supported by many funda-mentalists seem paradoxical, in that they run contrary to the sacred texts that they revere, which prescribe compassion, kind-ness, and tolerance as central values (e.g., Laythe, Finkel, & Kirkpa-trick, 2001; Winters, 2006). Some have noted that because religious meaning systems often include justifications for both vio-lent and peaceful actions (Appleby, 2000), individuals can be moved towards violent or peaceful activism by leaders who selec-tively emphasize certain religious messages over others (e.g., Go-pin, 2000; Lewis 2003).The research reported here used terror management theory (TMT; Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986) to understand conditions under which compassionate reli-gious values might decrease support for violence against threaten-ing out-groups. In accordance with TMT, if fundamentalists rely on adherence to their religious belief systems to alleviate death anxi-ety, then priming compassionate religious values should reverse the tendency of fundamentalists to derogate out-groups and sup-port violent solutions to international conflicts, especially when paired with reminders of mortality. Religious fundamentalism Altemeyer and Hunsberger (1992) define religious fundamen-talism as the belief that there is a single set of religious teachings that provide absolute truths that, if followed, lead to a special rela-tionship with the deity, and that must be vigorously defended against evil oppositional forces. Rather than reflecting specific doc-trinal beliefs, religious fundamentalism entails an underlying atti-tude towards one's beliefs. Silberman, Higgins, and Dweck (2005) describe how individuals who relate to their religious system in 0022-1031/$ -see front matter Ó
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 06/2009; 45:816-827. · 2.31 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Terror management theory (TMT) is used to explore psychological forces that act to promote or dis-courage support for terrorism and violent counterterrorist policies. According to TMT, domination, humiliation, and perceived injustice threaten the self-esteem and cultural worldviews that protect people from death-related anxi-ety; the result may be hostility and violence directed against the threatening out-group as a way of defusing this threat. We review research documenting the role of terror management processes in promoting and discouraging support for terrorism and violent counterterrorist policies and discuss the implications of this research. The studies we review suggest that the same psychological forces that promote support for terrorist violence also promote sup-port for aggressive counterterrorist policies and that these forces can be redirected to encourage support for more peaceful solutions on both sides of the current conflict between Islamic radical groups and Western nations. KEYWORDS—terrorism; intergroup conflict; ethno-relig-ious conflict; terror management theory; conflict resolution For many years, the Middle East has been locked in a continuous conflict involving terrorist violence and military attacks that have led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. As Lifton (2003) noted, all sides to this conflict see themselves as doing God's work by fighting for justice against an intractable, evil enemy. Unlike most other forms of violence and crime, terrorism and war are engaged in not for one's own good but for the good of one's people and culture (Richardson, 2006). Although no single theory can explain the myriad social, economic, and political forces that motivate terrorism and responses to terrorism, this article exam-ines these forces through the lens of terror management theory (TMT; Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solmon, 1986), an empirically based theory of the psychological functions served by culture and self-esteem. Many observers have implicated threats to cultural worldviews and self-esteem, in the form of humiliation, domina-tion, and injustice, as root causes underlying the hatred and rage that motivates terrorist violence (e.g., Richardson, 2006; Stern, 2003). This article provides an overview of the TMTanalysis of the current global crisis of terrorist violence and reviews research documenting conditions under which existential fear increases and decreases support for violence.
Current Directions in Psychological Science 10/2008; 17(5):318-322. · 3.93 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Six studies examined the role of young adults' parental attachment in terror management. Studies 1-3 revealed that activating thoughts of one's parent in response to mortality salience (MS) reduced death-thought accessibility and worldview defense and increased feelings of self-worth. Studies 4-5 demonstrated that MS led to greater ease of recalling positive maternal interactions and greater difficulty recalling negative interactions, and increased attraction to a stranger who was described as being similar to one's parent. If reliance on parents for terror management purposes reflects the operation of attachment mechanisms, then such effects should vary on the basis of an individual's attachment style. Study 6 demonstrated that, after MS, insecure individuals were more likely to rely on relationships with their parents, whereas secure individuals were more likely to rely on relationships with romantic partners.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 05/2008; 94(4):696-717. · 5.08 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Study 1 investigated the effect of mortality salience on support for martyrdom attacks among Iranian college students. Participants were randomly assigned to answer questions about either their own death or an aversive topic unrelated to death and then evaluated materials from fellow students who either supported or opposed martyrdom attacks against the United States. Whereas control participants preferred the student who opposed martyrdom, participants reminded of death preferred the student who supported martyrdom and indicated they were more likely to consider such activities themselves. Study 2 investigated the effect of mortality salience on American college students' support for extreme military interventions by American forces that could kill thousands of civilians. Mortality salience increased support for such measures among politically conservative but not politically liberal students. The roles of existential fear, cultural worldviews, and construing one's nation as pursing a heroic battle against evil in advocacy of violence were discussed.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 05/2006; 32(4):525-37. · 2.22 Impact Factor
