Content uploaded by Tom Pyszczynski
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Tom Pyszczynski on Mar 26, 2018
Content may be subject to copyright.
A Terror Management Theory of Social Behavior: The Psychological Functions of Self-Esteem and Cultural Worldviews
Abstract
Publisher Summary This chapter deals with terror management theory that attempts to contribute to the understanding of social behavior by focusing on the essential being and circumstance of the human animal. The theory posits that all human motives are ultimately derived from a biologically based instinct for self-preservation. Relative equanimity in the face of these existential realities is possible through the creation and maintenance of culture, which serves to minimize the terror by providing a shared symbolic context that imbues the universe with order, meaning, stability, and permanence. The theory provides a theoretical link between superficially unrelated substantive areas, and focuses on one particular motive that makes it distinctly human and, unfortunately, distinctly destructive. Theories serve a variety of equally important functions, all of which are oriented towards improving the ability to think about and understand the subject matter of discipline. The chapter discusses the dual-component cultural anxiety buffer: worldview and self-esteem, the development and functioning of the cultural anxiety buffer for the individual, and a terror management analysis of social behavior in great detail.
... When people feel threatened, they are more willing to accept strong leadership(Padilla et al., 2007). Research on the theory of terror management shows how threat increases followers' support for and identification with charismatic leaders, especially those who do not support participative leadership(Solomon et al., 1991). It is worth noting that potential threats are not necessarily objective threats. ...
The study of toxic leadership, which is a form of destructive leadership, has intensified in recent years, as the results of its existence are destructive for both health-care organization and employees. The present work explores the relationship between toxic leadership and more specifically the toxic leadership triangle and the well-being of employees in the public sector. The toxic leadership triangle, which contributes to the existence of destructive leadership, is a theoretical model based on three factors, namely the leader, the subordinates (followers) and the conditions of the environment. Initially, the theoretical background of the concepts of toxic leadership, followers, the health-care organization environment, and employee well-being is studied. The research questions are then formulated and the results are analyzed, which do not reveal a direct impact of toxic leadership on the well-being of employees in the public sector. The role of followers and the supportiveness of the health-care organizational environment seem to act as mediators.
... Through the lens of TMT, cultural worldviews are fabrications of reality that cloak the truth of the human condition and rewrite the fate of man Solomon et al., 1991). Through shared values, religious practices, and social identities, cultures provide a framework that makes life meaningful and gives people a sense of belonging and purpose. ...
The current investigation examined terror management defenses employed by Muslim Americans and moderating effects of acculturation and religiosity. Associations between death salience and worldview defense were predicted to vary according to acculturation and religious commitment. Study 1 measured acculturation and reactions to traditional or modern Muslim targets. Study 2 assessed religiosity and acculturation effects on reactions to a worldview-threatening essay. Against expectations, heightened mortality salience did not result in the typical increase in worldview defense, nor was there a moderating effect of acculturation or religiosity. Furthermore, the relationship between mortality salience and worldview defense was not moderated by acculturation or religiosity. Thus, when confronted with existential threats, Muslim Americans may not separate their religious and secular worldviews to defend against mortality concerns. Although the pattern of results was unexpected, this study provides novel information suggesting that Muslim Americans may handle mortality salience in ways not yet revealed by previous TMT studies.
... In this way, people tend to hold onto their values and beliefs when they are confronted with the knowledge of their death. Besides, people focus on self-esteem and nurturing relationships to create a sense of purpose, which helps manage the inner conflict between wanting to live and knowledge of death (Solomon et al., 1991;Svet et al., 2023). Another underpinning framework was found in a study conducted by Xie et al. (2024), in which they developed a Knowledge-Attitude-Practice (KAP) based narrative life education program and explored its feasibility and effect on attitudes towards death. ...
It is known that death education and support helps in a number of ways those people involved in end-of-life and death-related working settings. This scoping review systematically maps the existing literature on death education programs, how they are delivered, and their psychosocial outcomes within different populations. The investigation was conducted using five databases (PubMed, PsychoInf, Scopus, Web of Science, and CINAHL), and 45 studies matched the inclusion criteria for the study. The death education programs detailed in the studies were delivered online, in person, or in a hybrid way through different strategies, such as group discussions, lectures, and interactive activities. The psychosocial outcomes from the programs in the review indicated a higher willingness to discuss end-of-life decisions and decreased death anxiety, death avoidance, and fear of death.
... Researchers have operationalized cultural worldview defense in highly diverse ways, so the dependent measures are sometimes strikingly different across studies. Most of the research on the MS hypothesis has explored how people engage in distal defenses against death reminders (e.g., worldview defense), which emerge most strongly after a delay (Pyszczynski et al., 1999), such that the mortality thoughts are no longer a focus of conscious attention (Solomon et al., 1991). In contrast, when people consciously reflect on their death they are more likely to engage in proximal defenses, such as committing to a healthier lifestyle, which may relieve their immediate distress although these efforts do not solve the ultimate problem of recognizing that one's life is necessarily finite. ...
We assessed the evidential value of the large literature (k = 643–825 studies) investigating the mortality salience (MS) hypothesis from terror management theory, employing a multitool assessment approach. First, we reviewed and evaluated recent efforts to replicate past experiments testing the MS hypothesis, summarizing the conflicting evidence and arguments to the evidential value of the MS literature. Next, we performed a random effects meta-analysis on the MS literature using multiple bias-correction meta-analytic techniques, including selection models, precision-effect test and precision-effect estimate with standard errors, weighted average of adequately powered studies and weighted least square, as well as the more recently developed p-curve and z-curve. Overall, the different meta-analytic tools often pointed to conflicting conclusions, reflecting methodological and philosophical differences among these tools. A synthesis of our findings suggests there are nonzero effects underlying some studies of the MS hypothesis, although the effects are highly heterogeneous, most studies are underpowered, and many individual effects may be spurious. We recommend future replications to assume a smaller effect size (r = .18) and to strictly follow expert guidance in the experimental protocol. Given the conflicting findings that emerged, we suggest future attempts to evaluate other literature would benefit from a multitool assessment approach.
... This avoidance of existential confrontation is welldocumented in the literature on death anxiety among adults. Aside from existential psychologists like Yalom (1980) observing that individuals often resist engaging with reminders of death, Terror Management Theory (TMT) may further explain how individuals buffer themselves from these existential threats (Solomon et al., 1991). Building on Becker's (1972) foundational ideas that human actions are motivated by both an awareness of mortality (i.e. ...
Background: Heidegger’s analysis of death in Being and Time (1927) is profoundly impactful, and yet, a neglected aspect of it pertains to child development.Aims: The central research question guiding this qualitative study was: when provided with opportunities for creative expression and philosophical inquiry, do children’s attitudes towards death align with Heidegger’s (1927) theories of death and existence?Method: Using an arts-based existential therapy approach, we conducted two 60-minute work-shops over 2 weeks with elementary school children aged 11-12 providing them with an oppor-tunity to openly reflect on death.Results: Participants were transparent in expressing their thoughts and feelings about death andexpressed thinking of death often, emphasizing it was almost every day. Children’s perceptions of death were also consistent with Heidegger’s (1927) analysis of Being-towards-death, existential anxiety, and anticipatory resoluteness.Discussion: Following an analysis, arts-based existential interventions show promise for thepotentiality of adapting Heidegger’s phenomenology for children.
This research examined the relation between health anxiety and death anxiety. The mediating role of cyberchondria and the moderating role of social aspirations were also explored. The sample included 405 participants, 67% women, between 18 and 38 years old ( M age = 21.12, SD = 3.32). Two dimensions of health anxiety (the likelihood of an illness and severity of an illness) had a significant positive relation with death anxiety. Cyberchondria had a positive relation with death anxiety, while motivation for a high social class had a non-significant relation with death anxiety. Further, cyberchondria mediated the relation between health anxiety and death anxiety. Moreover, when motivation for social class was high, high body vigilance was associated with a low level of death anxiety. The implications of the obtained results for the relief of death anxiety, when the participants present health anxiety and cyberchondria, are discussed, taking into account the level of social aspirations.
Araştırmamız, travmatik olayların, özellikle ölüm ve yas deneyimlerinin, bireysel ve toplumsal bellek üzerindeki çok katmanlı etkilerini, Türkiye'de yayınlanan "Gassal" adlı televizyon dizisi perspektifinden incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır.Literatür taramasına dayalı bu makalede, nitel içerik analizi ve tematik analiz yöntemleri kullanılarak, dizideki (varsayımsal) karakterlerin psikolojik durumları, travmatik geçmişleriyle başa çıkma stratejileri, ölümle yüzleşme biçimleri, yas süreçleri ve gassallık kimliğinin psikolojik yansımaları analiz edilmiştir. Çalışmanın kuramsal çerçevesi, ölüm psikolojisi, psikodinamik yaklaşımlar, travma ve yas literatüründeki temel kavramlara dayanmaktadır. (Varsayımsal) Bulgular, ana karakter Baki'nin erken dönem travmalarının ve mesleğinin getirdiği ikincil travmaların kişilik yapısı, savunma mekanizmaları ve ilişkileri üzerinde derin etkileri olduğunu göstermektedir. Ölüm ritüellerinin bireysel yas sürecinde ve toplumsal dayanışmada önemli işlevler üstlendiği, gassallık kimliğinin ise hem psikolojik zorluklar hem de anlam arayışı potansiyeli barındırdığı tespit edilmiştir. Popüler kültür ürünlerinin travma ve bellek gibi karmaşık konuları ele alış biçiminin, izleyici farkındalığı ve toplumsal söylem üzerinde önemli etkileri olabileceği sonucuna varılmıştır. Çalışma, travma ve bellek araştırmalarına kültürel bir perspektif sunmakta ve popüler kültürün psikolojik süreçler üzerindeki rolünü vurgulamaktadır.
Presents an analysis of theory and research in social psychology which reveals that while methods of research are scientific in character, theories of social behavior are primarily reflections of contemporary history. The dissemination of psychological knowledge modifies the patterns of behavior upon which the knowledge is based. This modification occurs because of the prescriptive bias of psychological theorizing, the liberating effects of knowledge, and the resistance based on common values of freedom and individuality. In addition, theoretical premises are based primarily on acquired dispositions. As the culture changes, such dispositions are altered, and the premises are often invalidated. Several modifications in the scope and methods of social psychology are derived from this analysis. (53 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This chapter outlines the two basic routes to persuasion. One route is based on the thoughtful consideration of arguments central to the issue, whereas the other is based on the affective associations or simple inferences tied to peripheral cues in the persuasion context. This chapter discusses a wide variety of variables that proved instrumental in affecting the elaboration likelihood, and thus the route to persuasion. One of the basic postulates of the Elaboration Likelihood Model—that variables may affect persuasion by increasing or decreasing scrutiny of message arguments—has been highly useful in accounting for the effects of a seemingly diverse list of variables. The reviewers of the attitude change literature have been disappointed with the many conflicting effects observed, even for ostensibly simple variables. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) attempts to place these many conflicting results and theories under one conceptual umbrella by specifying the major processes underlying persuasion and indicating the way many of the traditionally studied variables and theories relate to these basic processes. The ELM may prove useful in providing a guiding set of postulates from which to interpret previous work and in suggesting new hypotheses to be explored in future research.
Copyright © 1986 Academic Press Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Few studies have examined immediate stress resistance during massive crisis. In this paper, 56 Israeli women whose loved ones were mobilized into the Israeli Defence Forces were evaluated as to their coping resources and psychological distress during the first week of the June 1982 Israel—Lebanon conflict. Coping traits (self-esteem and mastery) were negatively related to psychological distress (state anxiety and state depression). These internal coping traits were seen as immediately available to individuals, despite the suddenness of the event. Contrary to predictions, social support was related to greater psychological distress. The unexpected findings for social support are attributed to a “pressure-cooker” effect, whereby war rumors were spread rapidly and women with more intimate relationships were more exposed to the sorrows of others. Alternatively, social support may have been adversive to women with high self-esteem who chose to master life challenges independently. The importance of studying im...
An experiment was conducted to determine whether events that threaten self-esteem affect cognition, anxiety, and attributions independently of their concomitant threat to social esteem. Subjects completed an ego-threatening test, believing that only they, only another individual, both they and the other individual, or no one would see their test scores. On cognitive and affective measures, subjects who were told they would see their own scores expressed greater apprehension than those who did not expect to see their scores, regardless of whether or not the other individual would see them, thereby demonstrating that threats to self-esteem may occur independently of threats to social esteem. However, attributions were affected only by whether or not the other individual would see the scores, indicating that subjects' attributions served to minimize the threat to social esteem.
Much of the knowledge regarding the parameters of wife abuse remains speculative despite recent increases in professional attention to this very serious problem. Low self-esteem, a factor often associated with aggressive behavior, has been clinically implicated in wife abuse. This study empirically evaluated the self-esteem of 20 abusive husbands and made comparisons to two groups of nonviolent husbands: a maritally discordant group; and a satisfactorily married group. The results were suggestive of an association between wife abuse and low self-esteem in the abusive husband. An additional measure demonstrated that abusive husbands were more likely to perceive their wives' behavior as threatening to their self-concepts.
The purpose of the study was to assess the stability of self-esteem as a coping resource during bereavement and to develop a dynamic model of the efficacy of coping ability in relation to the perceived stressfulness of the spouse's death. Data were obtained from a longitudinal study of bereavement. Interviews and mailed questionnaires were completed by 192 persons at three time periods which covered the first year of bereavement. Results indicate that initially effective copers remain effective throughout the first year, those with initially high levels of self-esteem maintain their positive assessments, and those who initially experience high stress levels also continue to report high levels one year later. Early bereavement stress was reduced by positive self-evaluations. Persistent stress is associated negatively with coping at one year. The mediating influence of stress at six months also contributes most significantly to the negative effects on self-esteem. Perceived coping ability significantly reduces stress only at six months. Implications for ongoing interventions are discussed.
Sixty groups, each composed of four female subjects and a female confederate, read a case history and made decisions about what to do with a juvenile delinquent supposedly confined in an institution. The case history was written so that subjects would recommend release, and the confederate adopted the role of a deviate by always recommending confinement. Group decisions were reached under majority, dictatorship, or unanimity rules. Under the latter two rules it was possible, in some instances, for the deviate to impose her recommendation on the group. As long as the group decision agreed with subjects' preferences, they tended to reject the deviate only weakly, to see the decision as representative of the preferences of the group members, and to feel that the decision rule was a fair one. Buth when the decision rules of dictatorship and unanimity permitted the deviate to impose on the group a decision that disagreed with subjects' preferences, they tended to reject the deviate strongly, to see the decision as unrepresentative, and to feel that the decision rule was unfair; these tendencies were stronger under dictatorship than under unanimity.
A recently developed self-evaluation maintenance model suggests that relative quality of another's performance and the relevance of the performance dimension to one's self-definition will interact in determining how close one will choose to be to that other. Specifically, the better another's performance on a dimension relevant to an individual's self-definition, the more threatening this would be for the individual. Thus the individual should progressively decrease interpersonal closeness toward that other with the other's improving performance. However, when the dimension in question is not relevant to the individual, as the other's performance increases interpersonal closeness should also increase. Male subjects engaged in a question-answering competition with a confederate. The questions dealt with a topic that was important to the subject (high relevance) or not important (low relevance). All subjects were given feedback that had performed at about the 50th centile. The confederate's performance differed across subjects: 20th, 40th, 60th, or 80th centile. Although an affective measure was not influenced by these manipulations, the predicted interaction between relative performance and relevance held for behavioral, behavioroid, and cognitive measures of closeness, but only when the confederate outperformed the subject.
About 600 fifth and sixth grade students were assessed regarding previous and current smoking activity, parents' smoking, four dimensions of self esteem, and a variety of attitudes toward school. A series of multivariate analyses showed that students were more likely to begin smoking if they had parents providing a smoking model, had low self esteem (especially with respect to family and school contexts), and disliked school and feared failure. Students who had continued to smoke showed reduced failure anxiety and reduced decrements of self esteem. In the absence of evidence on causality, this apparent amelioration might be seen as resulting from a stress-relieving effect of smoking behavior itself, from socialization into a smoking group, or simply from students having been predisposed to begin smoking by an attitudinal pit.