1. Theory ( TMT ) Terror Management fear of death How the fear of death fundamentally influences the development of personality Russ Webster Theories of Personality rjwebster@bsu.edu

2. TMT’s Existential Roots What is existentialism? Philosophy looking at big, abstract ideas What does it mean to be “human”? Why are we here? How did we come to be? Basically, the search for meaning Old philosophy Dates back to western classical era Continued through Renaissance and today Find it in paintings, music, literature

3. TMT’s Existential Roots Existential psychology began in reaction to Freud’s theories Both Freudian and existential psych explore the motivational consequences of human (unconscious) conflicts However, they differ in which conflicts fundamentally influence human behavior For Freud we manage sexual conflict; For existential psychs our search for meaning, freedom, coherence ultimately stemmed from the fear of death

4. TMT Theorists Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, and Sheldon Solomon were all grad students at University of Kansas in the 1970s They felt… dismayed by “the massive popularity of purely cognitive explanations for human behavior” and that something “big” was being left out of psychological research Yet, for decades psychodynamic theories were snubbed because they were not falsifiable – unable to be confirmed or refuted

5. TMT Theorists Yet the cognitive revolution did give us innovative tools to study inner workings of the mind Greenberg et al. saw the potential to apply these new tools to support a broad and progressive theory Penned theoretical papers explaining TMT’s principles (1986) Ernest Becker’s (1976) The Denial of Death cornerstone of theory

6. TMT: Main Tenets Fear of death is innate & universal Self-awareness leads to the recognition that death is unstoppable and unpredictable Fear of death fundamental source of human conflict and anxiety Death naturally conflicts with our powerful self- preservation and freedom instincts Ultimate motive: to manage this terror Thus, TMT holds that human behavior fundamentally demonstrates how we cope or manage this anxiety – this terror – of death; From intergroup conflict to self-esteem needs, TMT has an explanation

7. You’ve got to be kidding me? How often do you really think about death daily? How can death be responsible for intergroup conflict? We learn to automatically – that is, unconsciously – repress and manage the fear of death using a “dual- component buffer”: A) Self-esteem B) Culture (individualized worldview)

8. Culture & Self-esteem: Terror management mechanisms It all goes back to childhood, right? Awareness of death Before full awareness: “The monster under the bed” Full awareness not until around 10 – 12 y/o But from infancy… Develop relationship between “being good” and having our needs met, anxiety alleviated Develop a sense of the self (i.e., self-esteem) through these caregiver-child transactions Explains our obsession with high self-esteem From childhood… Adults edify children in cultural standards and beliefs Culture provides meaning, permanence, stability Link between fulfilling cultural standards (“being good”) and alleviation of anxiety then developed Culture may serve as a proxy caregiver

9. Initial Reactions Reaction to first theoretical papers was scornful American Psychologist editors: “I have no doubt that these ideas are of absolutely no interest to any psychologist, alive or dead.” TMT theorists reply: “We had been hoping that at least the dead might have shown some interest” Must empirically test TMT before others took serious consideration

10. 1. The Anxiety Buffer hypothesis …states that high self-esteem, derived from upholding parental and cultural standards, shields individuals from experiencing (death) anxiety Empirical research says… Greenberg et al. (1992): High self-esteem lessened self-reported anxiety… in anticipation of electric shocks in response to graphic video in response to receiving information detailing a short life expectancy Self-esteem also moderated P’s physiological response in anticipation of electric shocks

11. 2. Mortality Salience hypothesis… …states that when people are reminded of death (mortality salience), they will use various terror management (defense) mechanisms to rid death thoughts from the mind to return to a composed psychological state Seeing that culture is vital to ward off death anxiety, people should defend their worldviews after mortality salience (i.e., elicit worldview defense) Worldview defense can either involve a) criticizing others’ disparate worldviews or b) praising others who uphold your worldview

12. First empirical studies… Rosenblatt et al. (1989): Completed mortality questionnaire or not Judges read case brief and then allotted bail to the alleged prostitute $ amount ranged from $100 - $999 Results: After mortality salience: $455 vs. Control condition: $50

13. Rosenblatt et al. (1989) cont. Also added “heroine condition” in which P’s allotted reward amount to female who apprehended thief ($1,000 - $4,000) After mortality salience: $3,476 vs. Control condition: $1,112

14. Mortality Salience: Results MS not only affects attitudes… e.g., increased derogation of various outgroup members (e.g., Christians vs. Jews) But also overt behavioral responses… Increased aggression against worldview transgressors (e.g., allotted more hot sauce to targets who criticized one’s political views) Decreased affiliation with dissimilar others (e.g., where one chooses, if at all, to sit with worldview threats) A powerful experimental manipulation documented in hundreds of experiments

15. The Psychodynamics of TMT What actually happens, cognitively, during these experiments? Participants are unaware of worldview defense after mortality salience How do we investigate unconscious processes – processes of which participants have no awareness and on which cannot report? Refer now to the diagram I passed out

16. I’m going to live forever! DELAY Proximal EffectsDistal Effects Your worldvie w sucks!

17. Skeptics? Anyone? Our unconscious – yeah, right! Conclusive evidence demonstrates how big a role our unconscious plays Our conscious mind only has limited capacities, thus our unconscious must “pick up the slack” Such evidence explains how terror management mechanisms occur without our awareness Experiments not generalizable..? However, results transcend: Gender, cultures (East and West), and age Mortality salience questionnaire not only manipulation used to present death reminders…

18. Prague, Czech Republic

21. The Scope of TMT The scope of TMT is huge! Keep in mind… Death reminders are everywhere… Media! Newspapers, TV, movies… The fear of death is universal and transcends the usual boundaries (e.g., age, region) The fear of death is (at least partly) influences a variety of seemingly unrelated, but consequential, human behavior Political, forensic, social, developmental, etc. applications abound Is there such a thing as rational behavior, then?

22. Thank You! Questions? Comments?