title: Embodied terror management: interpersonal touch alleviates existential concerns among individuals with low self-esteem.
abstract: Individuals with low (rather than high) self-esteem often struggle with existential concerns. In the present research, we examined whether these existential concerns may be alleviated by seemingly trivial experiences of both real and simulated interpersonal touch. A brief touch on the shoulder by a female experimenter led individuals with low self-esteem to experience less death anxiety (Study 1) and more social connectedness after a death reminder (Study 2). Reminding individuals with low self-esteem of death increased their desire for touch, as indicated by higher value estimates of a teddy bear, a toy animal that simulates interpersonal touch (Study 3). Finally, holding a teddy bear (vs. a cardboard box) led individuals with low self-esteem to respond to a death reminder with less defensive ethnocentrism (Study 4). Individuals with high self-esteem were unaffected by touch (Studies 1-4). These findings highlight the existential significance of embodied touch experiences, particularly for individuals with low self-esteem.
authors.affiliation: VU University Amsterdam.
authors.forename: Sander L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Koole
authors.forename: Mandy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tjew A Sin
authors.forename: Iris K
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Schneider
mesh_terms: D001293:Attitude to Death / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D012649:Self Concept; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: death and dying; ethnocentrism; fear of death; mortality salience; self-esteem; social connectedness; terror management; touch