Mortality salience increases death-anxiety for individuals low in personal need for structure Academic Article

abstract

• Research derived from terror management theory suggests that death cognition does not lead to death-anxiety because people respond to thoughts of death by turning to social and cultural structures that provide a sense of psychological security. However, recent research indicates that it is people high, but not low, in personal need for structure that turn to social and cultural structures in response to heightened death cognition. Such findings suggest that people low in PNS may be vulnerable to experiencing death-anxiety when death thoughts are activated. The current study explored this possibility. Individual differences in personal need for structure were measured and death cognition (mortality salience) was manipulated. Subsequently, death-anxiety was assessed. Mortality salience increased death-anxiety, but only among individuals low in personal need for structure. 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

authors

• Vess, Matthew

published proceedings

• MOTIVATION AND EMOTION

author list (cited authors)

• Routledge, C., Juhl, J., & Vess, M.

citation count

• 12

complete list of authors

• Routledge, Clay||Juhl, Jacob||Vess, Matthew

publication date

• June 2013

publisher

• Springer Nature  Publisher

published in

• Motivation and Emotion  Journal

keywords

• Death-anxiety
• Mortality Salience
• Personal Need For Structure
• Terror Management

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1007/s11031-012-9313-6

start page

• 303

end page

• 307

volume

• 37

issue

• 2

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11031-012-9313-6

user-defined tag

• 3 Good Health and Well-Being