Terror Management Theory (TMT)
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Definition
Terror management theory (TMT), first proposed by Sheldon Solomon, Tom Pyszczynski, and Jeff Greenberg, suggests that people adhere to cultural worldviews and beliefs in order to suppress death and mortality-related thoughts (Rosenblatt, Greenberg, Solomon, Pyszczynski & Lyon, 1989). TMT is based on the work of anthropologist Ernest Becker. Becker (1973) proposed that individuals would be restricted by the fear of their inevitable death if they could not develop a system to overcome their terror of mortality. TMT suggests that people combat the terror of their mortality with the same cognitive abilities that cause this terror to arise, by developing “death-denying cultural belief systems” (Goldenberg, Pyszczynski, Greenberg & Solomon, 2000). Additionally, TMT suggests that individuals must feel that they are significant contributors to this worldview and derive their sense of self-esteem according to whether or not they meet culturally determined standards (Pyszczynski, Solomon & Greenberg, 2003).
Methodology
TMT was originally tested on municipal court judges who were asked to set bond for an alleged prostitute (Rosenblatt, Greenberg, Solomon, Pyszczynski & Lyon, 1989). Prostitution was chosen because it contradicts the morals of many individuals. Before receiving information about the case, half of the judges experienced mortality salience by being asked to answer questions regarding their own death. As expected, the judges who were reminded of their mortality set higher bonds for the accused prostitute. Rosenblatt et al. (1989) explained this by stating, “Moral principles are part of the cultural anxiety-buffer that protects individuals from anxiety concerning their vulnerability and mortality” (Rosenblatt et al., 1989).Thus, acts which go against these moral principles, cause individuals to react more harshly to these “moral transgressors” when mortality is made salient. The theory was further tested to combat arguments against the original experiment and to further refine the theory (Rosenblatt et al., 1989). In the second experiment, judges’ attitudes towards prostitution were measured in advance. Next, the original experiment was repeated with the addition of having the judges express their attitudes toward the experimenter as well. Results showed that those individuals with negative attitudes towards prostitution set higher bonds when mortality was made salient than those for whom it was not made salient. Furthermore, it showed that there was no effect of mortality salience for those individuals who had relatively positive attitudes toward prostitution. Additionally, mortality salience did not lead to a more negative evaluation of the experimenter, thus reducing the likelihood that mood was an alternative explanation to the terror management theory. In addition to increasing individuals’ negative attitudes toward moral transgressors, terror management theory predicts that mortality salience should also increase individuals’ positive attitudes toward others who uphold valued moral principles. In the third experiment (Rosenblatt et al., 1989), individuals were asked again to set bond for an alleged prostitute, and also to set the reward for a woman who had helped police apprehend a criminal, whose victims had sustained injuries. Again, those individuals reminded of their mortality set higher bonds for the prostitute, and in this new case, also set higher rewards for the hero. The fourth and fifth experiments sought to test the link between TMT and self awareness, and the link between mortality salience and physiological arousal, respectively. The findings showed that self awareness did not increase the effects of TMT and that mortality salience did not lead to differences in physiological measures (Rosenblatt, 1989).
Findings
As a result of these experiments, TMT has evolved into a theory that suggests that “a wide range of superficially distinct forms of human behavior are oriented toward the pursuit of self-esteem and faith in a cultural worldview” (Pyszczynski & Greenberg & Solomon, 1999) in order to combat the anxiety that mortality salience invokes. Furthermore, humans have developed a “dual-component cultural anxiety buffer” (Pyszczynski et al., 1999), which consists of a cultural worldview and self esteem. The cultural worldview exists as a “conception of reality that imbues life with order, permanence, and stability…through which individuals can attain a sense of personal value” (Pyszczynski et al., 1999); while self esteem exists as belief that one is meeting the standards within one’s cultural worldview. Additionally, Pyszczynski, Greenberg, and Solomon explain that nonconscious thoughts of death invoke terror management defenses (1999). This is consistent with the proposition that it is not direct and experienced fear or terror of death, but rather the accessibility of death-related thoughts that drive the terror management defenses.
Primary Hypotheses and Self-Esteem
Most empirical research for TMT relies on two hypotheses. First, the mortality salience hypothesis centers on the idea that if a psychological structure protects against mortality concerns, reminding people of death should increase their reliance on the structure. Secondly, the anxiety buffer hypothesis explains that strengthening this structure should reduce anxiety in response to mortality salience (Greenberg et al., 2000). Both of these concepts hinge on the presence of self-esteem, which enables individuals to feel they play an important role within these psychological structures. In 1992, this link with self esteem was tested (Greenberg, Solomon, Pyszczynski, Rosenblatt, Burling, Lyon et al., 1992). College students participated by reacting to short video clips, after which the experimenters provided them with personality assessments. The assessments presented either a positive or neutral evaluation, and students later completed the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale to assure self esteem had been raised. Students were then made aware of their own mortality by watching a video of an autopsy and electrocution, and as expected, those students who had received neutral personality evaluations reported higher levels of anxiety. This experiment supported the idea that self esteem reduces anxiety as individuals believe they are a vital part of their own worldview (Pyszczynski et al., 2003).
Relevance Today
In today’s world, terror management has played out with events like September 11th. Pyszczynski et al., (1999) suggest that this theory could explain why people have trouble interacting with people from different cultures. They explain, “If culture serves as a death-denying function, then the existence of the people who are culturally different undermines our own defense against the fear of death” (Dess, 2002). In this sense, people feel they must be able to rely on their own personal worldview. It is this very worldview that, “From a TMT perspective it shields individuals from fears surrounding death by enabling them to view themselves as valuable members of an eternal cultural reality that exists beyond the point of their own physical death” (Pyszczynski et al., 1999).
References
Becker, E. (1973). “The Denial of Death.” New York: Free Press.
Dess, Nancy. “Terror in the Homeland.” Psychology Today. March/April 2002. http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20020301-000024.html
Goldenberg, Jamie and Tom Pyszczynski and Jeff Greenberg and Sheldon Solomon. (2000) “Fleeing the Body: A Terror Management Perspective on the Problem of Human Corporeality.” Personality & Social Psychology Review, Vol. 4, Issue 3, p200-218.
Greenberg, Jamie and Sheldon Solomon and Tom Pyszczynski and Abram Rosenblatt a and J. Burling and Deborah Lyon et al (1992). “Assessing the terror management Analysis of self-esteem: Converging evidence of an anxiety-buffering function. Journal of Personalilty and Social Psychology, 63, 913-922.
Pyszczynski, Tom and Jeff Greenberg and Sheldon Solomon (1999).“A Dual-Process Model of Defense Against Conscious and Unconscious Death-Related Thoughts. An Extension of Terror Management Theory.” Psychological Review, Vol. 106, No. 4, 835-845.
Pyszczysnki, Tom and Sheldon Solomon, and Jeff Greenberg. In the Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2003.
Rosenblatt, Abram and Jeff Greenberg and Sheldon Solomon and Tom Pyszczynski and Deborah Lyon (1989). “Evidence for Terror Management Theory I. The Effects of Mortality Salience on Reactions to Those Who Violate or Uphold Cultural Values.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 57, No. 4, 681-690.
