Is death really the worm at the core? Converging evidence that worldview threat increases death-thought accessibility.
According to terror management theory, if the cultural worldview protects people from thoughts about death, then weakening this structure should increase death-thought accessibility (DTA). Five studies tested this DTA hypothesis. Study 1 showed that threatening Canadian participants' cultural values (vs. those of another culture) increased DTA on a word-fragment completion task. Study 2 showed that when participants could dismiss the threat, DTA remained low. Study 3 replicated the results of Study 1, but DTA was measured using a lexical decision task. Response latencies to death, negative, and neutral content were measured. Worldview threat increased DTA relative to accessibility for negative and neutral content. Study 4 showed that the DTA effect emerged independently of the arousal of anger or anxiety. Finally, Study 5 demonstrated that participants with a pro-creation (vs. pro-evolution) worldview had higher DTA after reading an anti-creation article. Discussion focused on theoretical implications and directions for further research.
Schimel
Jeff
J
University of Alberta, Department of Psychology, Edmonton, AB, Canada. jschimel@ualberta.ca
Hayes
Joseph
J
Williams
Todd
T
Jahrig
Jesse
J
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001364:Awareness; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D005086:Existentialism; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D012945:Social Values; D012951:Socialization; D013850:Thinking