title: It is our destiny to die: the effects of mortality salience and culture-priming on fatalism and karma belief.
abstract: The current study explores whether Asians use culture-specific belief systems to defend against their death anxiety. The effects of mortality salience (MS) and cultural priming on Taiwanese beliefs in fatalism and karma were investigated. Study 1 showed that people believe in fatalism and karma more following MS compared with the control condition. Study 2 found that the effect of MS on fatalism belief was stronger when Taiwanese were exposed to an Eastern cultural context than to a Western cultural context. However, a matched sample of Western participants did not show increased fatalism belief after either a West- or East-prime task. The present research provides evidence that Asians may use some culture-specific beliefs, particularly fatalism belief, to cope with their death awareness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Social Work, National Defense University, Taipei, Taiwan. dragon1943@mail2000.com.tw
authors.forename: Chih-Long
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Yen
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D013624:Taiwan; D055815:Young Adult