Terror Management Theory

Greenberg et al. (1990). Evidence for Terror Management Theory

II: The Effects of Mortality Salience on Reactions to Those Who
Threaten or Bolster the Cultural Worldview. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology. 58(2): 308-318.

Florian, V. & Mikulincer, M. (1997). Fear of Death and the

Judgement of Social Transgressions: A Multidimensional Test
of Terror Management Theory. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology. 73(2): 369-380.
 Relevant Implications
∞ Culture as an anxiety-buffer

“Culture minimizes this anxiety by providing a conception of the universe

(cultural worldview) that imbues the world with order, meaning, and
permanence; by providing a set of standards of valued behavior that, if
satisfied, provide self-esteem; and by promising protection and, ultimately,
death transcendence to those who fulfill the standards of value.”
(Greenberg, Simon, Pyszczynski, Solomon, & Chatel, 1992, p. 212)

As Becker (as cited in Pyszczynski, 2003) puts it:

“Psychologically, then, the function of culture is not to illuminate the truth

but rather to obscure the horrifying possibility that death entails the
permanent annihilation of the self”
 Study 1
The effects of mortality salience on the
reactions to those with similar or dissimilar
religious worldviews

Prediction: Mortality salience would increase

liking for a member of one’s own religious
group and decrease liking for a member of a
religious out-group.
 Procedure
1) “Preliminary Questionnaire Packet”

∞ Background information

∞ Attitude and personality questionnaires

∞ Mortality Salience Manipulation

Mortality Salience Manipulation

(a) Please briefly describe the

emotions that the thought of
your death arouses in you.

(b) Please write down, as

specifically as you can, what
you think physically will
happen to you as you die.
 Procedure
2) Read a set of questionnaires supposedly
from two different targets…

Jew and Christian

3) Evaluate the targets

∞ Interpersonal Judgement Scale (Byrne, 1971)
 Impression Assessment
Interpersonal Judgement Scale (Byrne, 1971)
e.g. rate the target’s intelligence, knowledge of current events, mortality, and
the extent to which they would like and enjoy working with the target.

How applicable each of 20 characteristics are to the target (1 = not at

all applicable to 9 = extremely applicable):

∞ Stingy, manipulative, arrogant, snobbish, obnoxious;

∞ Honest, cheerful, reliable, trustworthy, argumentative,
intelligent, warm, patient, kind, ambitious, stable, sleazy,
introverted, and impulsive.
 Results
∞ Inducing Christian subjects to think about their
mortality led them to give more positive IJS
ratings of fellow Christians and more negative
IJS ratings of Jews.

∞ Across all measures, the Christian target was

rated more positively than the Jew target only in
the mortality salient condition.
 Study 2

Mortality salience intensifies the similarity-

attraction relationship (Byrne, 1971)

Therefore, when reminded of their

mortality, participants should show greater
preference for similar others over dissimilar
others.
 Study 3
Mortality salience should have a stronger effect on
reactions to those who directly validate or threaten
aspects of subjects’ cultural worldviews

∞ Cover page
∞ Few background questions
∞ Mortality salience manipulation
∞ Interview
∞ Interviewee credentials page
∞ Primary dependent variables (in order to
assess reactions to the interview)
 Interview
3 versions: Political Science Quarterly

Pro-US: “In this country, the people and not the government will
be the final judges of the value in which to be a free thinker.”

Mixed: “Morality has nothing to do with our foreign policy.

That’s why the idea that the U.S. is a promotor of world
democracy and freedom is a total sham.”

Anti-US: “Violent overthrow is the only way the people will ever
wrest control of their own nation from the capitalist
powerbrokers.”
 Dependent Measure
Differential Emotions Scale (Izard, 1977)
Indicate from 1 (not feeling the emotions at all) to 9 (feeling the
emotion a great deal)

∞ How much did you like the interviewee?

∞ Would you like to meet him?
∞ How knowledgeable do you think he is?

∞ Do you agree with the interviewee’s opinions?

∞ How much truth do you think there was in what he
said?
 Results
Mortality salience encourages positive
reactions to someone who praises the
culture and negative reactions to those who
criticize it.

However, the credentials of the interviewee

did not alter the primary effects of mortality
salience.
Florian, V. & Mikulincer, M. (1997). Fear of Death and the
Judgement of Social Transgressions: A Multidimensional Test
of Terror Management Theory. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology. 73(2): 369-380.
Fear of Personal Death Scale (Florian & Kravetz, 1983)

7-point scale ranging from 1 (totally incorrect for me) to 7 (totally correct for me)

The Intrapersonal subscale is composed of two factors:

∞ Fear of Loss of Self-Fulfillment (i.e., “Death frightens me because my
life will not have been properly used“ )
∞ Fear of Self-Annihilation (i.e., "I am afraid of death because of the
decomposition of my body” or “Loss and destruction of the self).

The Interpersonal subscale is composed of two

additional factors:
∞ Fear of Loss of Social Identity (i.e., “I will be forgotten” or “Absence will
not be felt”)
∞ Fear of Consequences to Family and Friends (i.e., “Because I won’t be
able to provide for my family” or “Relatives will not overcome sorrow”)
 Hypothesis
(1) Making death salient will lead people who fear death
because of its intrapersonal consequences to react
more negatively (as compared with people in the death
non-salient condition) only to a social transgression with
intrapersonal consequences. These people will not
react more negatively to a social transgression with
mainly interpersonal consequences.

(2) In addition, the induction of death salience will lead

people who fear death because of its interpersonal
consequences to react more negatively to a social
transgression with interpersonal consequences but not
to a transgression with intrapersonal consequences.
 Florian, V. & Mikulincer, M. (1997)
2 x 2 x 2 design

∞ Mortality salience (salient vs. nonsalient)

∞ Intrapersonal Fear of Death (high vs. low)
∞ Interpersonal Fear of Death (high vs. low)

Dependent Variable: (1) ratings of transgressions with

intrapersonal consequences; (2) ratings of transgressions
with interpersonal consequences.
Multidimensional Social Transgression Scale
(MSTS)
Evaluate the severity of the transgression from 1 (not severe at all) to
9 (very severe).

Interpersonal Transgressions:

“The vehicle hit me, but my son is the victim” said the teacher who
was hit in front of his son’s eyes while a young driver drove through
the residential area at a speed of 100 mph. “Half a year after the
accident, I have totally recovered, and he is still afraid of the sound
of a car. He can’t travel in a moving vehicle. He walks to and from
school, which is two miles from our house, trying to avoid all roads.
The boy who was happy and carefree has turned anxious and
paranoid.”
Multidimensional Social Transgression Scale
(MSTS)
Evaluate the severity of the transgression from 1 (not severe at all) to
9 (very severe).

Personal Transgressions:

“A frustrated burglar destroyed the life masterpiece of the renowned

sculptor, one week before its completion and display to the public.
The burglar, disappointed from the small booty, tied up the sculptor
and in front of his eyes hit the ceramic sculpture with a heavy
hammer until it shattered. The stunned sculptor: “Nineteen years of
work – the best of my talent, turned into a pile of rubble.”
 Results
∞ Death salience leads to harsher evaluations of
moral transgressions independent of the type of
death fear or transgression

∞ Independent of mortality salience, people

respond most harshly to transgressions that
coincide with the aspects of death they most fear.
 Discussion
∞ Does thinking about death really makes people
genuinely more concerned about death?

∞ Another causal explanation for the fact that

people prefer similar others over dissimilar
others?

― People may fear the unknown and the strange(r) more than
they fear death.

― Evolution alert! Similar people are more likely to be genetic

relatives therefore we tend to like them more.
"Death left its old tragic heaven and became the lyrical core
of man: his invisible truth, his visible secret."

-- Michel Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic

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Terror management theory

Terror management theory (TMT) is both a social and evolutionary psychology theory originally
proposed by Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon, and Tom Pyszczynski[1] and codified in their book The
Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life (2015). It proposes that a basic psychological conflict
results from having a self-preservation instinct while realizing that death is inevitable and to some extent
unpredictable. This conflict produces terror, and the terror is then managed by embracing cultural
beliefs, or symbolic systems that act to counter biological reality with more durable forms of meaning
and value.[1][2]

The most obvious examples of cultural values that assuage death anxiety are those that purport to offer
literal immortality (e.g. belief in afterlife, religion).[3] However, TMT also argues that other cultural
values – including those that are seemingly unrelated to death – offer symbolic immortality. For
example, values of national identity,[4] posterity,[5] cultural perspectives on sex,[6] and human
superiority over animals[6] have been linked to death concerns. In many cases these values are thought
to offer symbolic immortality either a) by providing the sense that one is part of something greater that
will ultimately outlive the individual (e.g. country, lineage, species), or b) by making one's symbolic
identity superior to biological nature (i.e. you are a personality, which makes you more than a glob of
cells).

Because cultural values determine that which is meaningful, they are also the foundation for self-esteem.
TMT describes self-esteem as being the personal, subjective measure of how well an individual is living
up to their cultural values.[2]

TMT is derived from anthropologist Ernest Becker's 1973 Pulitzer Prize-winning work of nonfiction The
Denial of Death, in which Becker argues most human action is taken to ignore or avoid the inevitability
of death. The terror of absolute annihilation creates such a profound – albeit subconscious – anxiety in
people that they spend their lives attempting to make sense of it. On large scales, societies build symbols:
laws, religious meaning systems, cultures, and belief systems to explain the significance of life, define
what makes certain characteristics, skills, and talents extraordinary, reward others whom they find
exemplify certain attributes, and punish or kill others who do not adhere to their cultural worldview. On
an individual level, self-esteem provides a buffer against death-related anxiety.

Contents
Background
Evolutionary backdrop
Self-esteem
Self-esteem as anxiety buffer
Mortality salience
Mortality and self-esteem on health risks
Social influences
Death thought accessibility
Importance of the DTA hypothesis
Death anxiety on health promotion
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Terror management health model

Emotion
Leadership
Religion
Criticisms
Prevalence of death
Meaning maintenance model
Offensive defensiveness
Evolutionary psychology, coalitional psychology, and TMT
Replication failure
See also
References
Bibliography
Further reading
External links

Background
Cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker asserted in his 1973 book The The idea of death, the fear of it,
Denial of Death that humans, as intelligent animals, are able to grasp haunts the human animal like
the inevitability of death. They therefore spend their lives building and nothing else; it is a mainspring
believing in cultural elements that illustrate how to make themselves of human activity—activity
stand out as individuals and give their lives significance and meaning. designed largely to avoid the
fatality of death, to overcome it
Death creates an anxiety in humans; it strikes at unexpected and by denying in some way that it
random moments, and its nature is essentially unknowable, causing is the final destiny for man.
people to spend most of their time and energy to explain, forestall, and
avoid it.[8] Ernest Becker, 1973[7]
Becker expounded upon the previous writings of Sigmund Freud,
Søren Kierkegaard, Norman O. Brown, and Otto Rank. According to
clinical psychiatrist Morton Levitt, Becker replaces the Freudian preoccupation with sexuality with the
fear of death as the primary motivation in human behavior.[9]

People desire to think of themselves as beings of value and worth with a feeling of permanence, a concept
in psychology known as self-esteem. This feeling counters the cognitive dissonance created by an
individual's realization that they may be no more important than any other living thing. Becker refers to
high self-esteem as heroism:

the problem of heroics is the central one of human life, that it goes deeper into human nature
than anything else because it is based on organismic narcissism and on the child's need for
self-esteem as the condition for his life. Society itself is a codified hero system, which means
that society everywhere is a living myth of the significance of human life, a defiant creation of
meaning.[10]

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The rationale behind decisions regarding one's own health can be explored through a terror management
model. A 2008 research article in Psychological Review proposes a three-part model for understanding
how awareness of death can ironically subvert health-promoting behaviors by redirecting one's focus
towards behaviors that build self-esteem instead: "Proposition 1 suggests that conscious thoughts about
death can instigate health-oriented responses aimed at removing death-related thoughts from current
focal attention. Proposition 2 suggests that the unconscious resonance of death-related cognition
promotes self-oriented defenses directed toward maintaining, not one's health, but a sense of meaning
and self-esteem. The last proposition suggests that confrontations with the physical body may
undermine symbolic defenses and thus present a previously unrecognized barrier to health promotion
activities."[11]

Evolutionary backdrop

Terror management theorists consider TMT to be compatible with the theory of evolution:[12] Valid fears
of dangerous things have an adaptive function that helped facilitate the survival of our ancestors' genes.
However, generalized existential anxiety resulting from the clash between a desire for life and awareness
of the inevitability of death is neither adaptive nor selected for. TMT views existential anxiety as an
unfortunate byproduct of these two highly adaptive human proclivities rather than as an adaptation that
the evolutionary process selected for its advantages. Just as human bipedalism confers advantages as
well as disadvantages, death anxiety is an inevitable part of our intelligence and awareness of dangers.

Anxiety in response to the inevitability of death threatened to undermine adaptive functioning and
therefore needed amelioration. TMT posits that humankind used the same intellectual capacities that
gave rise to this problem to fashion cultural beliefs and values that provided protection against this
potential anxiety. TMT considers these cultural beliefs (even unpleasant and frightening ones, such as
ritual human sacrifice) when they manage potential death anxiety in a way that promotes beliefs and
behaviors which facilitated the functioning and survival of the collective.

Hunter-gatherers used their emerging cognitive abilities to facilitate solving practical problems, such as
basic needs for nutrition, mating, and tool-making. As these abilities evolved, an explicit awareness of
death also emerged. But once this awareness materialized, the potential for terror that it created put
pressure on emerging conceptions of reality. Any conceptual formation that was to be widely accepted by
the group needed to provide a means of managing this terror.

Originally, the emergence of morality evolved to facilitate co-existence within groups. Together with
language, morality served pragmatic functions that extended survival. The struggle to deny the finality of
death co-opted and changed the function of these cultural inventions. For example, Neanderthals might
have begun burying their dead as a means of avoiding unpleasant odors, disease-infested parasites, or
dangerous scavengers. But during the Upper Paleolithic era, these pragmatic burial practices appear to
have become imbued with layers of ritual performance and supernatural beliefs, suggested by the
elaborate decoration of bodies with thousands of beads or other markers. Food and other necessities
were also included within the burial chamber, indicating the potential for a belief system that included
life after death. In many human cultures today, funerals are viewed primarily as cultural events, viewed
through the lens of morality and language, with little thought given to the utilitarian origins of burying
the dead.

Evolutionary history also indicates that "the costs of ignoring threats have outweighed the costs of
ignoring opportunities for self-development."[13] This reinforces the concept that abstract needs for
individual and group self-esteem may continue to be selected for by evolution, even when they
sometimes confer risks to physical health and well-being.

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Self-esteem
Self-esteem lies at the heart of TMT and is a fundamental aspect of its core paradigms. TMT
fundamentally seeks to elucidate the causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem. Theoretically, it
draws heavily from Ernest Becker's conceptions of culture and self-esteem (Becker, 1971;[14] Becker,
1973[15]). TMT not only attempts to explain the concept of self-esteem, it also tries to explain why we
need self-esteem.[16] One explanation is that self-esteem is used as a coping mechanism for anxiety. It
helps people control their sense of terror and nullify the realization that humans are just animals trying
to manage the world around them. According to TMT, self-esteem is a sense of personal value that is
created by beliefs in the validity of one's cultural worldview, and the belief that one is living up to the
cultural standards created by that worldview.[16]

Critically, Hewstone et al. (2002) have questioned the causal direction between self-esteem and death
anxiety, evaluating whether one's self-esteem comes from their desire to reduce their death anxiety, or if
death anxiety arises from a lack of self-esteem.[17] In other words, an individual's suppression of death
anxiety may arise from their overall need to increase their self-esteem in a positive manner.[17]

Research has demonstrated that self-esteem can play an important role in physical health. In some
cases, people may be so concerned with their physical appearance and boosting their self-esteem that
they ignore problems or concerns with their own physical health.[18] Arndt et al. (2009) conducted three
studies to examine how peer perceptions and social acceptance of smokers contributes to their quitting,
as well as if, and why these people continue smoking for outside reasons, even when faced with thoughts
of death and anti-smoking prompts.[18] Tanning and exercising were also looked at in the researchers'
studies. The studies found that people are influenced by the situations around them.[18] Specifically,
Arndt et al. (2009) found in terms of their self-esteem and health, that participants who saw someone
exercising were more likely to increase their intentions to exercise.[18] In addition, the researchers found
in study two that how participants reacted to an anti-smoking commercial was affected by their
motivation for smoking and the situation which they were in. For instance, people who smoked for
extrinsic reasons and were previously prompted with death reminders were more likely to be compelled
by the anti-smoking message.[18]

Self-esteem as anxiety buffer

An individual's level of self-consciousness can affect their views on life and death. To a point, increasing
self-consciousness is adaptive in that it helps prevent awareness of danger. However, research has
demonstrated that there may be diminishing returns from this phenomenon. Individuals with higher
levels of self-consciousness sometimes have increased death cognition, and a more negative outlook on
life, than those with reduced self-consciousness.[19]

Conversely, self-esteem can work in the opposite manner. Research has confirmed that individuals with
higher self-esteem, particularly in regard to their behavior, have a more positive attitude towards their
life. Specifically, death cognition in the form of anti-smoking warnings weren't effective for smokers and
in fact, increased their already positive attitudes towards the behavior.[20] The reasons behind
individuals' optimistic attitudes towards smoking after mortality was made salient, indicate that people
use positivity as a buffer against anxiety. Continuing to hold certain beliefs even after they are shown to
be flawed creates cognitive dissonance regarding current information and past behavior, and the way to
alleviate this is to simply reject new information. Therefore, anxiety buffers such as self-esteem allow
individuals to cope with their fears more easily. Death cognition may in fact cause negative

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reinforcement that leads people to further engage in dangerous behaviors (smoking in this instance)
because accepting the new information would lead to a loss of self-esteem, increasing vulnerability and
awareness of mortality.[20]

Mortality salience
The mortality salience hypothesis (MS) states that if indeed one's cultural worldview, or one's self-
esteem, serves a death-denying function, then threatening these constructs should produce defenses
aimed at restoring psychological equanimity (i.e., returning the individual to a state of feeling
invulnerable). In the MS paradigm, these "threats" are simply experiential reminders of one's own death.
This can, and has, taken many different forms in a variety of study paradigms (e.g., asking participants
to write about their own death;[1] conducting the experiment near funeral homes or cemeteries;[21]
having participants watch graphic depictions of death,[22] etc.). Like the other TMT hypotheses, the
literature supporting the MS hypothesis is vast and diverse. For a meta analysis of MS research, see
Burke et al. (2010).[23]

Experimentally, the MS hypothesis has been tested in close to 200 empirical articles.[23] After
participants in an experiment are asked to write about their own death (vs. a neutral, non-death control
topic, such as dental pain), and then following a brief delay (distal, worldview/self-esteem defenses work
the best after a delay; see Greenberg et al. (1994)[22] for a discussion), the participants' defenses are
measured. In one early TMT study assessing the MS hypothesis, Greenberg et al. (1990)[4] had Christian
participants evaluate other Christian and Jewish students that were similar demographically, but
differed in their religious affiliation. After being reminded of their death (experimental MS induction),
Christian participants evaluated fellow Christians more positively, and Jewish participants more
negatively, relative to the control condition.[24] Conversely, bolstering self-esteem in these scenarios
leads to less worldview defense and derogation of dissimilar others.[24]

Mortality salience has an influence on individuals and their decisions regarding their health. Cox et al.
(2009) discuss mortality salience in terms of suntanning. Specifically, the researchers found that
participants who were prompted with the idea that pale was more socially attractive along with mortality
reminders, tended to lean towards decisions that resulted in more protective measures from the sun.[25]
The participants were placed in two different conditions; one group of participants were given an article
relating to the fear of death, while the control group received an article unrelated to death, dealing with
the fear of public speaking.[25] Additionally, they gave one group an article pertaining to the message
that "bronze is beautiful," one relating to the idea that "pale is pretty," and one neutral article that did
not speak of tan or pale skin tones.[25] Finally, after introducing a delay activity, the researchers gave the
participants a five-item questionnaire asking them about their future sun-tanning behaviors. The study
illustrated that when tan skin was associated with attractiveness, mortality salience positively affected
people's intentions to suntan; however, when pale skin was associated with attractiveness people's
intentions to tan decreased.[25]

Mortality and self-esteem on health risks

Studies have shown that mortality and self-esteem are important factors of the terror management
theory. Jessop et al. (2008) study this relationship within four studies that all examine how people react
when they are given information on risks, specifically, in terms of the mortality related to the risks of
driving.[26] More specifically, the researchers were exploring how participants acted in terms of self-
esteem, and its impact on how mortality-related health-risk information would be received.[26] Overall,
Jessop et al. (2008) found that even when mortality is prominent, people who engage in certain
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behaviors to improve their self-esteem have a greater chance of continuing with these activities.[26]
Mortality and self-esteem are both factors that influence people's behaviors and decision-making
regarding their health. Furthermore, individuals who are involved in behaviors and possess motivation
to enhance their self-worth are less likely to be affected by the importance placed on health risks, in
terms of mortality.[26]

Self-esteem is important when mortality is made salient. It can allow people a coping mechanism, one
that can cushion individuals' fears; and thus, impacting one's attitudes towards a given behavior.[20]
Individuals who have higher levels of self-esteem regarding their behavior(s) are less likely to have their
attitudes, and thus their behaviors changed regardless of mortality salient or death messages.[20] People
will use their self-esteem to hide behind their fears of dying. In terms of smoking behaviors, people with
higher smoking-based self-esteem are less susceptible to anti-smoking messages that relate to death;
therefore, mortality salience and death warnings afford them with an even more positive outlook on their
behavior, or in this instance their smoking.[20]

In the Hansen et al. (2010) experiment the researchers manipulated mortality salience. In the
experiment, Hansen et al. (2010) examined smokers' attitudes towards the behavior of smoking. Actual
warning labels were utilized to create mortality salience in this specific experiment. The researchers first
gave participants a questionnaire to measure their smoking-based self-esteem.[20] Following the
questionnaire, participants were randomly assigned to two different conditions; the first were given anti-
smoking warning labels about death and the second control group were exposed to anti-smoking
warning labels not dealing with death.[20] Before the participants' attitudes towards smoking were taken
the researchers introduced an unrelated question to provide a delay. Further research has demonstrated
that delays allow mortality salience to emerge because thoughts of death become non-conscious.[20]
Finally, participants were asked questions regarding their intended future smoking behavior.[20]
However, one weakness in their conduction was that the final questionnaire addressed opinions and
behavioral questions, as opposed to the participants level of persuasion regarding the different anti-
smoking warning labels.

Social influences

Many people are more motivated by social pressures, rather than health risks. Specifically for younger
people, mortality salience is stronger in eliciting changes of one's behavior when it brings awareness to
the immediate loss of social status or position, rather than a loss, such as death that one can not imagine
and feels far off.[27] However, there are many different factors to take into consideration, such as how
strongly an individual feels toward a decision, his or her level of self-esteem, and the situation around
the individual. Particularly with people's smoking behaviors, self-esteem and mortality salience have
different effects on individuals' decisions. In terms of the longevity of their smoking decisions, it has
been seen that individuals' smoking habits are affected, in the short-term sense, when they are exposed
to mortality salience that interrelates with their own self-esteem. Moreover, people who viewed social
exclusion prompts were more likely to quit smoking in the long run than those who were simply shown
health-effects of smoking.[27] More specifically, it was demonstrated that when individuals had high
levels of self-esteem they were more likely to quit smoking following the social pressure messages, rather
than the health risk messages.[27] In this specific instance, terror management, and specifically mortality
salience is showing how people are more motivated by the social pressures and consequences in their
environment, rather than consequences relating to their health. This is mostly seen in young adult
smokers with higher smoking-based self-esteems who are not thinking of their future health and the
less-immediate effects of smoking on their health.[27]

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Death thought accessibility

Another paradigm that TMT researchers use to get at unconscious concerns about death is what is
known as the death thought accessibility (DTA) hypothesis. Essentially, the DTA hypothesis states that if
individuals are motivated to avoid cognitions about death, and they avoid these cognitions by espousing
a worldview or by buffering their self-esteem, then when threatened, an individual should possess more
death-related cognitions (e.g., thoughts about death, and death-related stimuli) than they would when
not threatened.[28]

The DTA hypothesis has its origins in work by Greenberg et al. (1994)[22] as an extension of their earlier
terror management hypotheses (i.e., the anxiety buffer hypothesis and the mortality salience
hypothesis). The researchers reasoned that if, as indicated by Wegner's research on thought suppression
(1994; 1997), thoughts that are purposely suppressed from conscious awareness are often brought back
with ease, then following a delay death-thought cognitions should be more available to consciousness
than (a) those who keep the death-thoughts in their consciousness the whole time, and (b) those who
suppress the death-thoughts but are not provided a delay. That is precisely what they found. However,
other psychologists have failed to replicate these findings.[29]

In these initial studies (i.e., Greenberg et al. (2004); Arndt et al. (1997)[30]), and in numerous
subsequent DTA studies, the main measure of DTA is a word fragment task, whereby participants can
complete word fragments in distinctly death-related ways (e.g., coff_ _ as coffin, not coffee) or in non
death-related ways (e.g., sk_ _l as skill, not skull).[31] If death-thoughts are indeed more available to
consciousness, then it stands to reason that the word fragments should be completed in a way that is
semantically related to death.

Importance of the DTA hypothesis

The introduction of this hypothesis has refined TMT, and led to new avenues of research that formerly
could not be assessed due to the lack of an empirically validated way of measuring death-related
cognitions. Also, the differentiation between proximal (conscious, near, and threat-focused) and distal
(unconscious, distant, symbolic) defenses that have been derived from DTA studies have been extremely
important in understanding how people deal with their terror.[32]

It is important to note how the DTA paradigm subtly alters, and expands, TMT as a motivational theory.
Instead of solely manipulating mortality and witnessing its effects (e.g., nationalism, increased
prejudice, risky sexual behavior, etc.), the DTA paradigm allows a measure of the death-related
cognitions that result from various affronts to the self. Examples include threats to self-esteem and to
one's worldview; the DTA paradigm can therefore assess the role of death-thoughts in self-esteem and
worldview defenses. Furthermore, the DTA hypothesis lends support to TMT in that it corroborates its
central hypothesis that death is uniquely problematic for human beings, and that it is fundamentally
different in its effects than meaning threats (i.e., Heine et al., 2006[33]) and that is death itself, and not
uncertainty and lack of control associated with death; Fritsche et al. (2008) explore this idea.[34]

Since its inception, the DTA hypothesis had been rapidly gaining ground in TMT investigations, and as
of 2009, has been employed in over 60 published papers, with a total of more than 90 empirical
studies.[28]

Death anxiety on health promotion

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How people respond to their fears and anxiety of death is investigated in TMT. Moreover, Taubman-
Ben-Ari and Noy (2010) examine the idea that a person's level of self-awareness and self-consciousness
should be considered in relation to their responses to their anxiety and death cognitions.[19] The more an
individual is presented with their death or death cognitions in general, the more fear and anxiety one
may have; therefore, to combat said anxiety one may implement anxiety buffers.[19]

Due to a change in people's lifestyles, in the direction of more unhealthy behaviors, the leading causes of
death now, being cancer and heart disease, most definitely are related to individuals' unhealthy
behaviors (though the statement is over-generalising and certainly cannot be applied to every case).[35]
Age and death anxiety both are factors that should be considered in the terror management theory, in
relation to health-promoting behaviors. Age undoubtedly plays some kind of role in people's health-
promoting behaviors; however, an actual age related effect on death anxiety and health-promoting
behaviors has yet to be seen. Although, research has demonstrated that for young adults only, when they
were prompted with death related scenarios, they yielded more health-promoting behaviors, compared
to those participants in their sixties. In addition, death anxiety has been found to have an effect for
young adults, on their behaviors of health promotion.[35]

Terror management health model

The terror management health model (TMHM) explores the role that death plays on one's health and
behavior. Goldenberg and Arndt (2008) state that the TMHM proposes the idea that death, despite its
threatening nature, is in fact instrumental and purposeful in the conditioning of one's behavior towards
the direction of a longer life.[11]

According to Goldenberg and Arndt (2008), certain health behaviors such as breast self-exams (BSEs)
can consciously activate and facilitate people to think of death, especially their own death.[11] While
death can be instrumental for individuals, in some cases, when breast self-exams activate people's death
thoughts an obstacle can present itself, in terms of health promotion, because of the experience of fear
and threat.[11] Abel and Kruger (2009) have suggested that the stress caused by increased awareness of
mortality when celebrating one's birthday might explain the birthday effect, where mortality rates seem
to spike around these days.[36]

On the other hand, death and thoughts of death can serve as a way of empowering the self, not as threats.
Researchers, Cooper et al. (2011) explored TMHM in terms of empowerment, specifically using BSEs
under two conditions; when death thoughts were prompted, and when thoughts of death were non-
conscious.[31] According to TMHM, people's health decisions, when death thoughts are not conscious,
should be based on their motivations to act appropriately, in terms of the self and identity.[31] Cooper et
al. (2011) found that when mortality and death thoughts were primed, women reported more
empowerment feelings than those who were not prompted before performing a BSE.[31]

Additionally, TMHM suggests that mortality awareness and self-esteem are important factors in
individuals' decision making and behaviors relating to their health. TMHM explores how people will
engage in behaviors, whether positive or negative, even with the heightened awareness of mortality, in
the attempt to conform to society's expectations and improve their self-esteem.[25] The TMHM is useful
in understanding what motivates individuals regarding their health decisions and behaviors.

In terms of smoking behaviors and attitudes, the impact of warnings with death messages depends on:

1. The individuals' level of smoking-based self-esteem

2. The warnings' actual degree of death information[20]

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Emotion
People with low self-esteem, but not high self-esteem, have more negative emotions when reminded of
death. This is believed to be because these individuals lack the very defenses that TMT argues protect
people from mortality concerns (e.g., solid worldviews). In contrast, positive mood states are not
impacted by death thoughts for people of low or high self-esteem.[37]

Leadership
It has been suggested that culture provides meaning, organization, and a coherent world view that
diminishes the psychological terror caused by the knowledge of eventual death. The terror management
theory can help to explain why a leader's popularity can grow substantially during times of crisis. When a
follower's mortality is made prominent they will tend to show a strong preference for iconic leaders. An
example of this occurred when George W. Bush's approval rating jumped almost 50 percent following
the September 11 attacks in the United States. As Forsyth (2009) posits, this tragedy made U.S. citizens
aware of their mortality, and Bush provided an antidote to these existential concerns by promising to
bring justice to the terrorist group responsible for the attacks.

Researchers Cohen et al. (2004), in their particular study on TMT, tested the preferences for different
types of leaders, while reminding people of their mortality. Three different candidates were presented to
participants. The three leaders were of three different types: task-oriented (emphasized setting goals,
strategic planning, and structure), relationship-oriented (emphasized compassion, trust, and confidence
in others), and charismatic. The participants were then placed in one of two conditions: mortality salient
or control group. In the former condition the participants were asked to describe the emotions
surrounding their own death, as well as the physical act of the death itself, whereas the control group
were asked similar questions about an upcoming exam. The results of the study were that the
charismatic leader was favored more, and the relationship-oriented leader was favored less, in the
mortality-salient condition. Further research has shown that mortality salient individuals also prefer
leaders who are members of the same group, as well as men rather than women (Hoyt et al. 2010). This
has links to social role theory.

Religion
TMT posits that religion was created as a means for humans to cope with their own mortality.
Supporting this, arguments in favor of life after death, and simply being religious, reduce the effects of
mortality salience on worldview defense. Thoughts of death have also been found to increase religious
beliefs. At an implicit, subconscious level, this is the case even for people who claim to be
nonreligious.[38][39]

Criticisms
Psychologists, especially evolutionary psychologists, have argued against terror management
theory.[40][41][42][43][44][45] One scholar commented that the field of psychology would be advanced by a
study of paralyzed states caused by anxiety that would only be alleviated with the reworking of a person's
mental state.[46] These authors instead explain human behavior is selected to urge people to avoid
situations likely to lead to death. This suggests that mortality salience effects reflect adaptive responses
to solve specific life-threats rather than an unconscious attempt to avoid this realization.

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Prevalence of death

Since findings on mortality salience and worldview defense were first published, other researchers have
claimed that the effects may have been obtained due to reasons other than death itself, such as anxiety,
fear, or other aversive stimuli such as pain. Other studies have found effects similar to those that MS
results in – for example, thinking about difficult personal choices to be made, being made to respond to
open-ended questions regarding uncertainty, thinking about being robbed, thinking about being socially
isolated, and being told that one's life lacks meaning.[47] While these cases exist, thoughts of death have
since been compared to various aversive experimental controls, such as (but not limited to) thinking
about: failure, writing a critical exam, public speaking with a considerable audience, being excluded,
paralysis, dental pain, intense physical pain, etc.[47]

With regards to the studies that found similar effects, TMT theorists have argued that in the previously
mentioned studies where death was not the subject thought about, the subjects would quite easily be
related to death in an individual's mind due to "linguistic or experiential connection with mortality"
(p. 332).[47] For example, being robbed invokes thoughts of violence and being unsafe in one's own home
– many people have died trying to protect their property and family. A second possible explanation for
these results involves the death-thought accessibility hypothesis: these threats somehow sabotage crucial
anxiety-buffering aspects of an individual's worldview or self-esteem, which increases their DTA. For
example, one study found increased DTA in response to thoughts of antagonistic relations with
attachment figures.[47]

Meaning maintenance model

The meaning maintenance model (MMM) was initially introduced as a comprehensive motivational
theory that claimed to subsume TMT, with alternative explanations for TMT findings. Essentially, it
posits that people automatically give meaning to things, and when those meanings are somehow
disrupted, it causes anxiety.[33] In response, people concentrate on "meaning maintenance to reestablish
their sense of symbolic unity" and that such "meaning maintenance often involves the compensatory
reaffirmation of alternative meaning structures".[33] These meanings, among other things, should
"provide a basis for prediction and control of our...environments, help [one] to cope with tragedy and
trauma...and the symbolic cheating of death via adherence to the enduring values that these cultures
provide".[33]

TMT theorists argue that MMM cannot describe why different sets of meaning are preferred for a symbol
by different people, and that while they may exist, "different [(i.e., more concrete)] types of meaning
have different psychological functions".[47] For example, MMM theorists argue that all types of meaning
are basically equal, and yet one could not compare the likelihood of defensive responses resulting from
exposure to a deck of cards containing black hearts with something like the September 11 attacks.[47]
TMT theorists argue, essentially, that unless something is an important element of a person's anxiety-
buffering worldview or self-esteem, it will not require broad meaning maintenance.[47]

In sum, TMT theorists believe that MMM cannot accurately claim to be an alternative to TMT because it
does not seem to be able to explain the current breadth of TMT evidence.[47] As an example,
TMT theorists assert that mortality salience would not be a threat to meaning, since our eventual demise
is a necessary condition of life. Therefore, it should not cause an individual to engage in general meaning
maintenance. MMM also makes no attempt to explain why threatening meaning increases DTA.[47]

Offensive defensiveness
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Some theorists have argued that it is not the idea of death and nonexistence that is unsettling to people,
but the fact that uncertainty is involved.[48] For example, these researchers posited that people defend
themselves by altering their fear responses from uncertainty to an enthusiasm approach.[47] Other
researchers argue for distinguishing fear of death from fear of dying and, therein, posit that ultimately
the fear of death has more to do with some other fear (e.g., fear of pain) or reflects fear of the
unknown.[49]

TMT theorists agree that uncertainty can be disconcerting in some cases and it may even result in
defense responses, but note that they believe the inescapability of death and the possibility of its finality
regarding one's existence is most unsettling. They ask, "'Would death be any less frightening if you knew
for certain that it would come next Tuesday at 5:15 p.m., and that your hopes for an afterlife were
illusory?'....Would you rather be certain that death is the end, or live with the uncertainty that it might
not be?" They also note that people actually seek out some types of uncertainty, and that being uncertain
is not always very unpleasant.[47] In contrast, there is substantial evidence that, all things being equal,
uncertainty and the unknown represent fundamental fears and are only experienced as pleasant when
there is sufficient contextual certainty.[49][50] For example, a surprise involves uncertainty, but is only
perceived as pleasant if there is sufficient certainty that the surprise will be pleasant. Consider a box
received on a birthday from a trusted family member as compared to the box received at the end of the
film "Seven" (which contains a severed head).

Though TMT theorists acknowledge that many responses to mortality salience involve greater
approaches (zealousness) towards important worldviews, they also note examples of mortality salience
which resulted in the opposite, which offensive defensiveness cannot account for: when negative features
of a group to which participants belong were made salient, people actively distanced themselves from
that group under mortality salience.[47]

Evolutionary psychology, coalitional psychology, and TMT

Several critiques have been proposed against TMT from evolutionary psychologists – for reasons
including that fear is an adaptive response in individuals that has come about as a result of natural
selection; without these adaptations human beings would have never been able to avoid maladaptive
situations.[12] Thus, it is unlikely that people would have psychological ways of slowing-down anxiety.[12]
In response, TMT theorists argue that this critique is mixing up fear related to immediate danger with
anxiety related to thoughts of threats that will or may occur eventually.[12] TMT is talking about the
protection that self-esteem and cultural worldviews offer against the threat of unavoidable death in the
future. While anxiety may be adaptive in avoiding entering a dangerous place (e.g. because a predator
may be waiting), this doesn't mean that anxiety must be adaptive in all cases.[12] For a more
comprehensive review of TMT and evolutionary psychology, see Landau et al., 2007.[12] Similar
evolutionary critiques have been raised by researchers exploring uncertainty and unknowns (see for
reviews,[49][50]).

Coalitional psychology (CP) is presented as another alternative to TMT, which proposes that there is an
evolutionary tendency to seek safety in groups (coalitions) as a reaction to adaptive threats.[51] People
already a part of coalitional groups seek to protect their membership by exhibiting their value to the
group.[51] TMT theorists answer by arguing that CP:

cannot account for the fact that virtually all cultures have a supernatural dimension;
it does not explain why cultural worldview defense is symbolic, involving allegiance to both specific
and general systems of abstract meaning unrelated to specific threats, rather than focused on the
specific adaptive threats it supposedly evolved to deal with;
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it dismisses TMT's dual process account of the underlying processes that generate MS effects
without providing an alternative of any kind or attempting to account for the data relevant to this
aspect of the TMT analysis and
the experiments testing hypotheses derived from CP do not provide compelling or unique support for
CP,
it cannot account for a host of empirical findings supporting hypotheses derived from TMT that could
never be deduced from CP.[12]

Replication failure
In addition to the criticisms from alternative theoretical perspectives, Many Labs 4 failed to replicate the
mortality salience results. A large scale effort to test the theory ([Link]
replicate-mortality-salience-effect-and-without-original-author-involvement/)[52] failed to obtain
support for the mortality salience effect on worldview defense, i.e. a greater preference for an essay
writer adopting a pro-U.S. argument than an essay writer adopting an anti-U.S. argument. The test is a
multi-lab replication of Study 1 of Greenberg et al. (1994).[22] Psychologists in 21 labs across the U.S. re-
executed the original experiment, among a total of 2,200 participants. In response to the Many Labs 4
paper, Tom Pyszczynski (one of the founding psychologists of TMT), stated ML4 "deviated from their
pre-registered protocol and failed to mention these deviations" and further "failure to follow their
(highly justified) preregistered protocol has led to incorrect conclusions that have become widely
publicized and have inadvertently done more damage than good to our common goal of improving
psychological science."[53]

See also
Anxiety buffer disruption theory
Cognitive dissonance
Flight from Death – a documentary film based on Ernest Becker's work and terror management
theory
Memento mori

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Pyszczynski, Thomas; Solomon, Sheldon; Greenberg, Jeff (2003). In the Wake of 9/11: The
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Further reading
Curtis, V.; Biran, A. (2001). "Dirt, disgust, and disease: Is hygiene in our genes?" ([Link]
u/login?uri=/journals/perspectives_in_biology_and_medicine/v044/[Link]). Perspectives in
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Biology and Medicine. 44 (1): 17–31. CiteSeerX [Link].760 ([Link]

c/summary?doi=[Link].760). doi:10.1353/pbm.2001.0001 ([Link]
1.0001). PMID 11253302 ([Link]
Darwin, C. (1998) [1872]. The expression of the emotions in man and animals. 3rd edition ([Link]
[Link]/darwin/emotion/[Link]). London: Harper Collins.
Florian, V.; Mikulincer, M. (1997). "Fear of death and the judgment of social transgressions: a
multidimensional test of terror". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 73 (2): 369–80.
doi:10.1037/0022-3514.73.2.369 ([Link] ISSN 0022-3514
([Link] PMID 9248054 ([Link]
4).
Goldenberg, J.L.; Pyszczynski, T.; Greenberg, J.; Solomon, S.; Kluck, B.; Cornwell, R. (2001). "I am
not an animal: Mortality salience, disgust, and the denial of human creatureliness". Journal of
Experimental Psychology. 130 (3): 427–435. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.130.3.427 ([Link]
37%2F0096-3445.130.3.427). PMID 11561918 ([Link]
Goldenberg, J.L.; Pyszczynski, T.; Greenberg, J.; Solomon, S. (2000). "Fleeing the body: A terror
management perspective on the problem of human corporeality". Personality and Social Psychology
Review. 4 (3): 200–218. doi:10.1207/S15327957PSPR0403_1 ([Link]
57PSPR0403_1).
Greenberg, J.; Pyszczynski, T.; Solomon, S. (1986). "The causes and consequences of a need for
self-esteem: A terror management theory". In R. F. Baumeister (ed.). Public Self and Private Self.
New York: Springer-Verlag. pp. 189–212.
Greenberg, J.; Pyszczynski, T.; Solomon, S.; Rosenblatt, A.; Veeder, M.; Kirkland, S. (1990).
"Evidence for terror management theory. II: The effects of mortality salience on reactions to" ([Link]
[Link]/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=6811697) (Fee required). Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology. 58 (2): 308–318. CiteSeerX [Link].2378 ([Link]
mary?doi=[Link].2378). doi:10.1037/0022-3514.58.2.308 ([Link]
[Link]). ISSN 0022-3514 ([Link] 13817,
35400000600727.0100 (INIST-CNRS). Retrieved 2007-07-27. "those who threaten or bolster the
cultural worldview"
Greenberg, J.; Solomon, S.; Pyszczynski, T. (1997). "Terror management theory of self-esteem and
cultural worldviews: Empirical assessments and". Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. 29
(S 61): 139. doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60016-7 ([Link]
960016-7). "conceptual refinements"
Hansen, J; Winzeler, S; Topolinski, S (2010). "When death makes you smoke: a terror management
perspective on the effectiveness of cigarette on-pack warnings". Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology. 46: 226–228. doi:10.1016/[Link].2009.09.007 ([Link]
007).
Hirschberger, G.; Florian, V.; Mikulincer, M. (2003). "Striving for romantic intimacy following partner
complaint or partner criticism: A terror". Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. 20 (5): 675–
687. doi:10.1177/02654075030205006 ([Link]
"management perspective"
Judis, J.B. (August 27, 2007). "Death grip: How political psychology explains Bush's ghastly
success". New Republic.
Lazarus, R.S. (1991). Emotion and adaptation. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-
506994-5.
Mikulincer, M.; Florian, V.; Hirschberger, G. (2003). "The existential function of close relationships.
Introducing death into the science of love". Personality and Social Psychology Review. 7 (1): 20–40.
doi:10.1207/S15327957PSPR0701_2 ([Link]
PMID 12584055 ([Link]
Pyszczynski, T.; Greenberg, J.; Solomon, S. (1997). "Why do we need what we need? A terror
management perspective on the roots of human social motivation". Psychological Inquiry. 8 (1): 1–
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20. doi:10.1207/s15327965pli0801_1 ([Link]

Pyszczynski, T.; Greenberg, J.; Solomon, S. (1999). "A dual process model of defense against
conscious and unconscious death-related thoughts: An extension of terror management theory".
Psychological Review. 106 (4): 835–845. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.106.4.835 ([Link]
7%2F0033-295X.106.4.835). PMID 10560330 ([Link]
Rosenblatt, A.; Greenberg, J.; Solomon, S.; Pyszczynski, T.; Lyon, D. (1989). "Evidence for terror
management theory: I. The effects of mortality salience on reactions to". Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology. 57 (4): 681–90. CiteSeerX [Link].5862 ([Link]
c/summary?doi=[Link].5862). doi:10.1037/0022-3514.57.4.681 ([Link]
2-3514.57.4.681). ISSN 0022-3514 ([Link] PMID 2795438 (http
s://[Link]/2795438). "those who violate or uphold cultural values"
Royzman, E.B.; Sabini, J. (2001). "Something it takes to be an emotion: The interesting case of
disgust". Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior. 31 (1): 29–59. doi:10.1111/1468-5914.00145 (htt
ps://[Link]/10.1111%2F1468-5914.00145).
Shehryar, O.; Hunt, D.M. (2005). "A terror management perspective on the persuasiveness of fear
appeals". Journal of Consumer Psychology. 15 (4): 275–287. doi:10.1207/s15327663jcp1504_2 (http
s://[Link]/10.1207%2Fs15327663jcp1504_2).
Simon, L.; Arndt, J.; Greenberg, J.; Pyszczynski, T.; Solomon, S. (1998). "Terror management and
meaning: Evidence that the opportunity to defend the worldview in response". Journal of Personality.
66 (3359–382): 359–382. doi:10.1111/1467-6494.00016 ([Link]
6). PMID 9615422 ([Link] "to mortality salience increases the
meaningfulness of life in the mildly depressed"
Simon, L.; Greenberg, J.; Harmon-Jones, E.; Solomon, S.; Pyszczynski, T.; Arndt, J.; Abend, T.
(1997). "Terror management and Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory: Evidence that terror
management occurs in the experiential system". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 72
(5): 1132–1146. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.72.5.1132 ([Link]
3514.72.5.1132). PMID 9150588 ([Link]
Greenberg, J.; Koole, S. L.; Pyszczynski, T. (2004). Handbook of experimental existential
psychology. Guilford Press. ISBN 978-1-59385-040-1.
Pyszczynski, T.; Solomon, S.; Greenberg, J.; Maxfield, M.; Cohen, F. (2004). "Fatal attraction. The
effects of mortality salience on evaluations of charismatic, task-oriented, and relationship oriented
leadership". (unknown).
Van Tilburg, W. A. P.; Igou, E. R (2011). "On the meaningfulness of existence: When life salience
boosts adherence to worldviews" ([Link]
ess-of-existence(2d1737fd-1fb0-470e-a588-6d8bb5c29b14).html). European Journal of Social
Psychology (Submitted manuscript). 41 (6): 740–750. doi:10.1002/ejsp.819 ([Link]
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Gutierrez, C. (2006). "Consumer attraction to luxury brand products: Social affiliation in terror
management theory".

Discusses TMT at length

Griffin, R. (2007). Fascism & Modernism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-8783-9.

TMT and self-esteem

Pyszczynski, T.; Greenberg, J.; Solomon, S.; Arndt, J.; Schimel, J. (2004). "Why do people need self-
esteem? A theoretical and empirical review" ([Link]
2176f6127d98164939f8c53). Psychological Bulletin. 130 (130): 435–468. doi:10.1037/0033-
2909.130.3.435 ([Link] PMID 15122930 ([Link]
[Link]/15122930).

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Schmeichel, B.J.; Gailliot, M.T.; Filardo, E.A.; McGregor, I.; Gitter, S.; Baumeister, R.F. (2009). "Terror
management theory and self esteem revisited: The roles of implicit and explicit self-esteem in
mortality salience effects" ([Link]
d8d750). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 96 (5): 1077–1087. doi:10.1037/a0015091 (h
ttps://[Link]/10.1037%2Fa0015091). PMID 19379037 ([Link]

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