Terror management theory pdf

This is of particular importance because voters want to believe in their President, but they also need to belong to something that will continue to change our country for the better. This concept plays into the need for self-esteem—through jobs and security—to cope with our death anxiety. Due to the increased death anxiety surrounding the United States, mortality salience causes individuals to cling to their culture, and look to find a leader who will tirelessly defend it.

Through the video we see that The Swamp cannot hold Trump down, and that no matter what they try to do to defeat him, he will always persevere. This is the leader they want, this is the leader they need to protect them from the terror of death — the cultural hero that emerges from The Swamp that tried desperately to hold him back.

Britt Blomso will graduate from Fort Lewis College in and wants to be a leader in Developmental and Leadership Psychology where she will work diligently to create a standardized protocol for college athletics and mental health with the National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA. Through her journey as a college athlete, she began to notice and experience the gap between physical and mental health, and how one was much more important to athletic programs.

Charlie Kaiser will graduate from Fort Lewis College in and wants to be a High School teacher who specializes in teaching life skills to students in topics such as fiscal responsibility, sexual education, healthy relationships, emotional intelligence and empathy, resiliency, and decision-making and problem-solving.

She wants to create her own curriculum for the course she teaches after recognizing the gap in life skills knowledge that members of the youth community have access.

Terror management theory claims that humans are aware of our inevitable death, and to manage our anxiety and intense fear around this consciousness, we invest in creating cultures, belief systems, values, and worldviews which shape a reality for us that make us feel protected from this terror. This means that things like religion, education, fame, sports yes, even sports , and politics are ways in which we manage our death anxiety.

Although this solution can be helpful, there are also times when this fear is manipulated to influence our actions and aid an agenda that is not our own. Members of political campaigns are more than strategic when making advertisements promoting their candidate and political agendas.

Most commonly used are four terror management theory themes meant to evoke fear and action among viewers and voters. According to a meta-analysis on this theory, mortality salience plays a role in shaping political attitudes, as people are more likely to cling to their preexisting worldviews when reminded of their death anxiety, even on an unconscious level Burke et al. The following analysis breaks down an example of this manipulation through a political advertisement from Joe Biden. This directly relates to Manipulation Through Death Reminders, as our unconscious fear of death is triggered by the violent images of street rioting.

We are in a battle for the soul of this nation, and we have to remember who we are. Images of communities uniting are starkly juxtaposed with images of Trump speaking and the violence in street riots, allude to the idea that the American soul a symbol of this worldview will be destroyed by President Trump and therefore he is a threat to our nation—and hence our cultural worldview.

Trump lauds the changes he has made in pursuit of fighting the left. The two key terror management themes used within this political ad are Threat to Values and Holy Longing.

These two themes play on the idea that Donald Trump is the right candidate to vote for in November. Politics at its worst. The ad highlights Donald Trump shaking hands with an American Soldier. In doing this, they are showing that Trump is a man who supports the military, which is a core American value. Furthermore, the second terror management theme depicted in this political ad is Holy Longing.

The ad highlights images of people cheering at Trump rallies and workers gathered to support Trump. These images depict a sense of community and promote the idea that, if these viewers vote for Donald Trump, then they will be a part of something bigger than themselves—i. Lastly, the narrator highlights that Donald Trump is making changes. Through using the Holy Longing approach, it creates a sense of security and community that only voting for Donald Trump will bring. In addition, they know that making viewers feel a sense of security and significance through voting for a specific political candidate will help them manage their fear.

When viewers are primed with the idea of death, they are more likely to vote for a candidate who will make them feel secure. She then wants to pursue her M. A in Psychology, Criminology and Forensics. She wants to work with the criminal justice system in pursuit of different ways of rehabilitation. Ashley will then seek her M. During election years, our televisions and radios are filled with political ads.

Both candidates have made sure to use this to strengthen their political agendas. All these types of ads are extremely powerful ways to get voters to transition from one presidential candidate to another. In particular, we can see Apocalyptic Visions and Death Reminders. His ads are meant to show the terror that can be drawn from the republican party, especially his opponent Donald Trump.

The ad portrays Joe Biden in a bright light as if he is the Savior that has come to deliver us from Evil. Concomitantly, Donald Trump can be seen with a darker light or looking very aggressive and terrifying. This not so subtle image is meant to strike fear in the heart of the viewer. When they hear the name Donald Trump their minds go to the people holding the torches and fighting one another, which is meant to invoke terror and the notion that, if Donald Trump is elected, we will all die violently.

These political ads contain many subliminal messages that are meant to instill fear and heroism in the Presidential Candidate that it favors. For this ad, Joe Biden wants to be seen as the hero that will save America from the threat of Donald Trump.

This ad definitely does its job in showing that the America Donald Trump brings is one filled with violence, terror, and death. According to the ad, Joe Biden will make sure that his vision of America does not have this and that we can rest easy and vote for him as President. The human ability to fear death and terror has controlled individuals, organizations, and cultural groups in ways we have never thought possible. Terror has the ability to attack and amplify our values, feelings of connectedness, and even our self-esteem unconsciously.

We find that companies and other big organizations use this fear to their advantage—and perhaps especially our own U. Presidential Candidates. Anticipating the inevitability of death is subtly but firmly present in this Biden ad. Individuals who fear death compensate by trying to live and survive with a purpose, such as by leaving a legacy.

This is the main idea this ad is pushing. We see hopeful images of newborn children, smiling teenagers, and happy faces along with dialogue that conveys that a change needs to happen in order for a better world to be possible, a world we want to leave behind for the next generation.

Feelings of significance that are shown in this video also play into this idea. Feeling significant and maintaining self-esteem has been a huge contributor to human terror management processes Solomon et al. This taps into our basic human need to feel connected and non-isolated. Community, public safety, and common humanity are just a few things this ad is presenting that fuel this need for togetherness.

Another way in which political candidates try to unconsciously use the fear of death is via a Threat to Values. In this ad, it is again not explicit but rather implicit in the context.

Biden attempts to garner support for his candidacy in this ad with an attack on one core American value: Being the best. This ad directly contradicts this perhaps subliminal American value by showing how the U.

Biden says plainly in this ad that, in order to be the best country , we need to make changes—and, of course, instilling the idea that he is the only one to lead us there. Showing blatant contradictions to these cultural values that many Americans prize can be quite anxiety-provoking. This idea can be explained further by Greenberg et al. Greenberg, J.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. DOI: Solomon, S. New York: Random House. Taylar A. Moorhouse will graduate from Fort Lewis College in Summer and wants to be an independent clinical counselor specializing in treatment for sexual assault survivors, substance abusers and domestic violence survivors. Her research experience during her time at NAU will be primarily focused on substance abuse and treatment effectiveness, as well as looking deeper into the world of treatment for sexual offenders.

The second, with Donald Trump as President, boasts secure i. The guiding message is simple; the solving of domestic issues is as simple as detaining, deporting, or otherwise punishing foreign out-group members. This is not a unique strategy; though perhaps the most famous example of the political use of scapegoating is the blaming of the Jewish people for problems faced by interwar Germany, more recent targets include China Chen, and African-Americans Krugman, Why is this technique so popular?

In his masterful Escape from Evil , Becker applied the final thesis from The Denial of Death , that humans create symbolic systems of meaning to allay existential anxiety rendered by knowledge of inescapable mortality Becker, , to the problem of human evil. Where did we come from? What is the correct way to live? What happens after death? These cultural worldviews also provide avenues for self-esteem maintenance. Together, cultural worldviews and self-esteem mitigate death anxiety by convincing people of their status as contributing members to a symbolic, and thus eternal, world of value and meaning.

So, even if physical death is inescapable, one may live on through contributions made to their culture Becker, Enter scapegoating. According to Becker and other existentialists, guilt develops from existential concerns such as the responsibility of self-creation, the loneliness and danger of individuality, and the limitations and fate of an animal body see his perceptive passage on the nature of guilt in Escape from Evil p.

Guilt is also a very abstract concept that must be concretized in order to be managed. This is accomplished by projecting personal guilt onto out-group members that can then be destroyed, giving the person power over death and allaying their own existential concerns. Recent social psychological experiments have exemplified this process in a nice way. We can now see why the use of scapegoating in political advertisements is so widespread and effective; it mitigates the guilt and anxieties of a conscious existence.

Becker, E. The Denial of Death. New York: Free Press. Escape from Evil. Chen, D. China Emerges as a Scapegoat in Campaign Ads. The New York Times. Fighting death with death: The buffering effects of learning That worldview violators have died. Psychological Science, 19 5 , Krugman, P. Innocent mistakes. An existential function of enemyship: Evidence that people attribute influence to personal and political enemies to compensate for threats to control.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98 3 , I graduated from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado and am now working on a doctorate in social psychology at the University of Missouri. After, I hope to teach and continue research on terror management theory and related topics.

This triggers emotions to associate Hillary with Hitler, a famous dictator who would take away our hope and future—the ultimate apocalyptic vision. The directors also employ certain facial expressions and body language with specific backgrounds to emphasize this salient point. For instance, Clinton is shown with her face pursed and lips drawn tight, a micro-expression sometimes associated with lying; this is coupled with the Oval Office in the background to imply that she would lie as President.

This increases the desire for a strong leader to pull our nation together and give that hard working middle class family hope. A classic death reminder then ensues, as the ad shows three Middle Eastern-looking men in the back of a truck with AKs and head wraps flying an assumed Islamic state flag with the claim that terrorism would only get worse under Clinton. The next scene moves to Donald trump looking happy and heroic, giving the camera a big two thumbs up.

It quickly shifts to a military family being reunited then many military and law enforcement personnel standing in front of a jet. The frames speed up to where they were almost flashes and you cannot see much, other than that people are happy and safe and the colors are brighter.

After I graduate, I plan on going into firefighting and possibly getting a paramedic license, as well as getting more into international mission work.

Photos of terrorists holding guns in a hostile manner then quickly follow. This fear of terrorism that is ubiquitous in America is a clear tactic of manipulation through death reminders. When advertisements attempt to use this sort of manipulation, they associate a commonly shared fear with the thought of the opponent.

By playing dark music and associating Hillary Clinton with photos of terrorists, the authors imply that terrorism will loom even larger should she become President. In this case, the advertisement indicates that only Donald Trump will protect the American people from harm.

I plan on graduating with a degree in psychology this December After graduation, I hope to further my studies in neuropsychology in graduate school.

When I am not working on my degree, I love to hula-hoop! We see them on our televisions and they slowly creep into our unconscious to sway our vote one way or the other. One commonly employed set of strategies in these ads is to invoke the central principles of terror management theory in hopes of scaring the American people into voting for said candidate or getting them to NOT vote for the other candidate.

This short essay will attempt to prove the latter through the use of a Hillary Clinton campaign ad. The ad includes Clinton responding to these quotes by vowing to protect the American people. The Clinton ad instills fear into the hearts of the viewers. This fear, according to terror management, could lead the viewer to do many things, including vote for and support Hillary Clinton. According to Burke et al. Clinton bets on the increase of both these due to her ad.

The only Republican opponents shown in this ad are men which could push the idea that Clinton, a woman, is in fact better for this job due to her gender. Kate Suazo is a senior psychology student at Fort Lewis College. Originally from Bernalillo New Mexico, she plans to graduate in April After she graduates, Kate plans to go straight into graduate school to get her MSW. This promotional, second, Trump-sponsored ad begins by showing a young American boy who had been killed by a nameless illegal immigrant.

Four guileful components found in this ad are death reminders, the idea of us vs. The illegal immigrant has a face tattoo and a grimace that could potentially invoke fear in any viewer. Interestingly this gang member is unnamed and only referred to as an illegal immigrant, hinting that the populations of illegal immigrants are likely to kill Americans or be associated with a gang.

These images remind people of death and loss with the ominous music and dimly-lit imagery. Information provided by governments, scientists, and the health care community has been confusing and sometimes contradictory, with partisan media outlets exacerbating the problem by providing narratives tailored to their constituents and critical of those with different ideological affiliations Bermejo et al.

These side effects of the pandemic seriously undermined all three components of the anxiety-buffering system that people use to maintain equanimity. The world has suddenly become an even more chaotic, confusing, and hostile place, in which death lurks around every corner, and people struggle to maintain meaning and self-esteem. From a TMT perspective, it is currently far more difficult for virtually all of us to manage the terror of death.

People have responded to the pandemic in a wide variety of ways, some rational and some less so, some adaptive, and some destructive. It suggests that thoughts of death can increase either motivation for healthy behavior or denial and avoidance when people are consciously focusing on them. We now consider some of the ways in which people employ proximal and distal tactics to cope with COVID TMT posits that when thoughts of death are in current focal attention, people attempt to remove them from their consciousness.

Given the high level of media coverage, the changes in daily life that provide a constant reminder of the pandemic, and the extent to which virus-related concerns dominate conversations and media reporting, completely avoiding the issue is impossible. But there is evidence of increases in diversion-seeking behavior, such as alcohol consumption Furnari, , excessive eating Ammar et al. This has taken the form of arguing that the virus is not nearly as contagious or lethal as health experts claim it to be Srikanth, , or that it is only lethal for the elderly or those already at-risk of dying from other diseases Fox et al.

Others have trivialized the virus by comparing it to common illnesses such as the seasonal flu Ritter, , focusing on other common causes of death McGinty, , or viewing the publicity given the pandemic as originating in a politically motivated conspiracy Romano, When sky-rocketing death statistics and vivid instances of contagion and mortality in the media make it hard to deny the problem outright, people sometimes claim that death rates are inflated to increase the funding hospitals receive Nunez, , or to bolster the aforementioned conspiracy to damage government leaders Brown, ; Romano Another, likely more adaptive, form of proximal defense against COVID is to follow the prescriptions for avoiding infection provided by the medical community.

Most people have engaged in some form of social distancing, increased sanitation practices such as hand washing and cleaning surfaces, wore masks in public places, and done other things to stay healthy Eanes, But the economic and social effects of these measures interfere with feelings of value and connection with the world, the core way in which we distally quell concerns about our mortality.

Despite its ubiquitous nature, thoughts of the virus are not always the focus of conscious thought. This would be too disturbing for most people to bear and could lead to the emergence or exacerbation of psychological disorders.

In addition, the proximal defenses that people employ are likely to be at least somewhat effective in removing thoughts of the pandemic from our consciousness. Survey research provides clear evidence of a partisan divide in attitudes and behavior related to the virus. Liberals tend to view the virus as much more dangerous than conservatives, report considerably more personal distress about it, and have greater confidence in what scientists and medical professionals have to say about it Funk et al.

Conservatives, on the other hand, view the virus as less dangerous and are more likely to assign blame to China and other foreigners and view the virus as part of a conspiracy to discredit Donald Trump Romano, The rapid emergence of polarized liberal and conservative narratives about the virus illustrate the dynamic interplay between individual psychological forces and cultural worldviews that is central to the TMT analysis of the relationship between individual and cultural psychology.

This political divide is undoubtedly exacerbated by the accessibility of death-related cognition caused by the pandemic. Though surveys have documented this divide since before President Trump was elected, there is an even wider divergence regarding his overall handling of the pandemic Bycoffe et al.

Anthony Fauci, who was at one time the major voice for the administration but later voiced some disagreements Brewster, A political divide is also evident in attitudes toward easing restrictions and reopening businesses and public places, with conservatives much more in favor of such policies than liberals. Whereas liberals tend to approve of societal restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus, conservatives tend to view them as unwarranted infringements on freedom and not worth the cost to the economy and individual incomes Shepard, In many U.

From a TMT perspective, reminders of death motivate people to affirm their worldviews, and political ideology is a central element of worldviews for many people. Though some studies show that mortality salience leads to a shift toward more conservative attitudes regardless of political orientation Cohen et al.

A meta-analytic review of this literature concluded that there is evidence for both tendencies, with the evidence being somewhat stronger for polarization Burke et al. We are seeing this polarization playing out in both proximal and distal reactions to the threat of the virus. One current example of intensified reactions may be the powerful and sometimes violent protests in response to the killing of George Floyd.

This was far from the first unjust killing of a Black person by the police, but it has clearly led to the most intense and widespread outrage and protests of any of them. But we argue that the background of death thought accessibility due to the pandemic probably intensified these reactions. Fueled by a greater need for terror management, many people jumped fervently onto this cause as a way to feel that they are doing something of value in their lives, when in reality their ability to feel that way has been so hampered by loss of jobs and income, social isolation, and difficulties in making sense of the tragedy and divisiveness that has emerged in the wake of the virus.

Meaning and significance derived from participating in these mass social protests may ironically increase death salience as protestors gather in large groups that exponentially increase their chance of exposure to the virus. Protests are also threatening, in that—though most have been peaceful—there is a lurking potential for violence with police and counter-protesters.

Interestingly, the individuals who are risking their lives to protest racial inequality tend to hold the same political views as those who believe that social distancing should be practiced Diamond, ; Nguyen, Consistent with the theoretical writings of Becker , Lifton , and Yalom , TMT suggests that when people are not effectively managing their existential terror by building a meaningful and purposeful life, death anxiety and maladaptive ways of dealing with that anxiety are the common result.

Indeed, it has been argued that both death anxiety and ineffective or disrupted anxiety-buffer functioning are transdiagnostic vulnerability factors for psychological disorder Iverach et al. If fear of death does indeed motivate the pursuit of meaning in life, self-esteem, and close relationships, then problems in managing death concerns exacerbated by the pandemic would leave people overwhelmed with anxiety and therefore more vulnerable to psychological disorder.

Experimental research has shown that reminders of mortality exacerbate phobias, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, depressive affect, and anxiety e. This may help explain why a recent review found that the pandemic is associated with increased reports of anxiety, depression, and stress Torales et al.

The COVID pandemic might cause psychological distress in two ways that correspond with proximal and distal defenses against death-related thought.

In addition, maladaptive proximal defenses may entail harmful practices aimed at avoiding the virus; some people have gargled bleach and cleaning supplies to reduce their chances of catching the virus Gharpure et al. The pandemic has also undermined distal defenses by hampering or eliminating the anxiety-buffering outlets that people typically rely on to believe that they are valuable contributors to a meaningful world. When people lose their jobs and cannot pursue their financial, educational, and career goals, they are losing important sources of self-esteem.

Social relationships, which play such a major role in managing death fears, have also been hampered by the lockdown and social distancing measures. Single people looking for a potential life partner have largely had to put this pursuit on hold. Inadequate distal defenses are likely to affect the need for proximal defenses and vice versa.

How might one manage these overwhelmed death-related defenses? Understanding the existential threats associated with the pandemic and reflecting on the proximal and distal defenses one uses to cope with them may help people develop new coping skills in these unprecedented times.

A recent study found that social media exposure during the pandemic is associated with poorer mental health as it likely contributes to the persistent salience of the virus and its mortality threat Gao et al. Engaging in and acknowledging the efficacy of best practices for avoiding infection is another potentially useful strategy for reducing anxiety. Reported increases in home-based hobbies such as baking bread or exercise have become popular as ways to derive a sense of meaning and value during the pandemic VanDerWerff, Social events that have been cancelled have sometimes been redesigned as COVID-friendly occasions—for example, the increasing popularity of drive-in theaters; online education; outdoor activities, such as hiking, where one can socialize while maintaining distance; and virtual get-togethers for parties, weddings, and funerals.

Proximally, we want to forestall death and feel safe from it in the short term. Distally, we want to maintain the view that life is meaningful and that we are valuable contributors to that meaningful life.

The fundamental dilemma is that measures that keep us safe in the moment often interfere with our ability to find meaning and significance in our lives. Both are important psychological concerns, and finding the right compromise to sufficiently meet both needs is the great challenge every culture is facing. One tragic example of this is that to keep hospitals and nursing homes safe, loved ones are often not allowed to be with their sicker or dying friends and family members.

Perhaps understanding these issues from the perspective of TMT can help societies determine the best versions of the many compromises with which they contend as they move forward with life in the face of the COVID pandemic. He received his PhD in psychology from the University of Kansas in With his colleagues Jeff Greenberg and Sheldon Solomon, he developed terror management theory, which explores the role of death in life and suggests that cultural worldviews, self-esteem, and close personal relationships function to manage the potential for existential terror that results from the uniquely human awareness of the inevitability of death.

He has also conducted research on clinical problems such as anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder. In particular, McKenzie often applies social psychological theories, including terror management theory and objectification theory, to understanding how trauma exposure relates to social and motivational processes that are typically only studied in nonclinical samples.

His work has contributed to understanding self-serving biases; how motivation affects cognition; the effects of ethnic slurs; the role of self-awareness in depression, cognitive dissonance, and existential isolation; and how concerns about death contribute to prejudice, self-esteem striving, and many other aspects of social behavior.

His work with Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski on the effects of the awareness of death on human behavior has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the Ernest Becker Foundation and is featured in the documentary film Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality.

National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. J Humanist Psychol. Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Email: ude. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.

Abstract Terror management theory is focused on the role that awareness of death plays in diverse aspects of life. Keywords: terror management theory, death anxiety, existential psychology, mental health, self-esteem, COVID, social unrest. Different Defenses for Conscious and Unconscious Death-Related Thoughts TMT posits that people manage death anxiety with two distinct systems, referred to as proximal and distal defenses Pyszczynski et al.

Terror Management Health Model People have responded to the pandemic in a wide variety of ways, some rational and some less so, some adaptive, and some destructive. Proximal Defenses TMT posits that when thoughts of death are in current focal attention, people attempt to remove them from their consciousness.

Distal Defenses Despite its ubiquitous nature, thoughts of the virus are not always the focus of conscious thought. Overwhelmed Anxiety Buffers and Psychological Disorder Consistent with the theoretical writings of Becker , Lifton , and Yalom , TMT suggests that when people are not effectively managing their existential terror by building a meaningful and purposeful life, death anxiety and maladaptive ways of dealing with that anxiety are the common result.

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