The relationship between COVID-19-induced death thoughts and depression during a national lockdown

2021 ◽  
pp. 135910532110671
Author(s):  
Samuel Fairlamb
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Death Thoughts ◽  
Death Thought Accessibility ◽  
Existential Concerns

Evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased rates of depression worldwide. Many factors have been identified to relate to this increase depression, but according to Terror Management Theory, the heightened awareness of death during the pandemic has the potential to increase depression for those with low self-esteem. This hypothesis was examined in a U.K. sample during the first national lockdown where depression, self-esteem and death-thought accessibility (DTA) were measured, and a COVID Index (COVID-19 cases and deaths on date of participation) was produced. The COVID Index was positively related to DTA. Additionally, DTA mediated the relationship between the COVID Index and depression scores when participants had low levels of self-esteem. These findings suggest that heightened existential concerns may be a neglected factor increasing depression during the pandemic.

scholarly journals Mindfulness of Death as a Tool for Mortality Salience Induction with Reference to Terror Management Theory

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 353
Author(s):  
Hyun Gong Moon
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Social Attitudes ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Mindfulness Of Death

In this article, I argue that “mindfulness of death” (maraṇasati) can be a tool to induce mortality salience and can have a positive psychological impact. The mindfulness of death is described in detail in the early Buddhist texts Aṅguttara Nikāya and Visuddhimagga. The texts stress that death should be consciously connected with temporality and mindfulness. Here, I look at the mindfulness of death in relation to the mortality salience of terror management theory. “Mortality salience” is a term proposed in terror management theory that means “the state of conscious activation of the thoughts of death”. In addition, after conscious activation of the thought of death, I examine the psychological changes, such as the increase of pro-social attitudes which emphasizes ethics and morality, and the emphasis on the intrinsic value of life due to the operation of a cultural worldview and self-esteem. In this paper, I conclude that mindfulness of death can be an effective tool to induce mortality salience.

Existential Meaning and Terror Management

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheldon Solomon ◽  
Jeff Greenberg
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Psychological Disorders ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Symbolic Immortality ◽  
Religious Extremism ◽  
Human Awareness

Terror management theory (TMT) posits that the uniquely human awareness of death engenders potentially debilitating existential terror that is “managed” by subscribing to cultural worldviews providing a sense that life has meaning as well as opportunities to obtain self-esteem, in pursuit of psychological equanimity in the present and literal or symbolic immortality in the future. In empirical support of TMT, research has demonstrated that: self-esteem serves to buffer anxiety in general, and about death in particular; reminders of death increase defense of the cultural worldview and efforts to bolster self-esteem; threats to the cultural worldview or self-esteem increase the accessibility of implicit death thoughts; conscious and non-conscious thoughts of death instigate qualitatively different defensive processes; death reminders increase hostility toward people with different beliefs, affection for charismatic leaders, and support for political and religious extremism; and death reminders magnify symptoms of psychological disorders.

scholarly journals Are we truly special and unique? A replication of Goldenberg et al. (2001)

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 191114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Rodríguez-Ferreiro ◽  
Itxaso Barberia ◽  
Jordi González-Guerra ◽  
Miguel A. Vadillo
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Aversive Situation

According to the mortality salience hypothesis of terror management theory, reminders of our future death increase the necessity to validate our cultural worldview and to enhance our self-esteem. In Experiment 2 of the study ‘I am not an animal: Mortality salience, disgust, and the denial of human creatureliness’, Goldenberg et al. (Goldenberg et al. 2001 J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 130 , 427–435. ( doi:10.1037/0096-3445.130.3.427 )) observed that participants primed with questions about their death provided more positive evaluations to an essay describing humans as distinct from animals than control participants presented with questions regarding another aversive situation. In a replication of this experiment conducted with 128 volunteers, we did not observe evidence for a mortality salience effect.

In Defense of the Body: The Effect of Mortality Salience on Female Body Objectification

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelly Grabe ◽  
Clay Routledge ◽  
Alison Cook ◽  
Christie Andersen ◽  
Jamie Arndt
Keyword(s):  
Female Body ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
The Body ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Psychological Consequences ◽  
Body Objectification ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Self Objectification

Previous research has illustrated the negative psychological consequences of female body objectification. The present study explores how female body objectification may serve as a defense against unconscious existential fears. Drawing from terror management theory, an experiment was designed to test the potential functionality of female body objectification. Men and women were primed to think about either their own mortality or an aversive control topic, and levels of body objectification were then assessed for both self- and other (women)-objectification. Findings supported the hypothesis that priming mortality would increase both self- and other-objectification among women, and self-objectification among those who derive self-esteem from their body. Implications for this research are discussed.

Role of Social Detachment in Coping With Death Anxiety

2017 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saurabh Maheshwari ◽  
Tuheena Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiment ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Death Anxiety ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Adaptive Strategy ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Coping With Death

The present research examines the strength of terror management theory in an indigenous Indian context of religious fair called Magh Mela. It explores how elderly Hindu people deal with death anxiety through practicing Kalpvas in Magh Mela. The research explores the role of social detachment and self-esteem in coping with terror of death. Study 1, a field experiment on 150 Kalpvasis (practitioners of Kalpvas) confirms the significant role of social detachment as an adaptive strategy for coping with death terror. The role of self-esteem did not emerge in the study. Study 2, another field experiment on 62 Kalpvasis confirms results of study 1. Significant role of years of Kalpvas on fear of death shows importance of the religious practices in managing terror related to death. The relation of terror management theory and death anxiety thus follows a different explanation for more indigenous contexts.

Ebola salience, death-thought accessibility, and worldview defense: A terror management theory perspective

Death Studies ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (9) ◽  
pp. 585-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert B. Arrowood ◽  
Cathy R. Cox ◽  
Michael Kersten ◽  
Clay Routledge ◽  
Jill Talley Shelton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Worldview Defense ◽  
Death Thought Accessibility

scholarly journals He Dies, He Scores: Evidence That Reminders of Death Motivate Improved Performance in Basketball

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 470-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin A. Zestcott ◽  
Uri Lifshin ◽  
Peter Helm ◽  
Jeff Greenberg
Keyword(s):  
Athletic Performance ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Basketball Game ◽  
The World ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Basketball Shooting

This research applied insights from terror management theory (TMT; Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986) to the world of sport. According to TMT, self-esteem buffers against the potential for death anxiety. Because sport allows people to attain self-esteem, reminders of death may improve performance in sport. In Study 1, a mortality salience induction led to improved performance in a “one-on-one” basketball game. In Study 2, a subtle death prime led to higher scores on a basketball shooting task, which was associated with increased task-related self-esteem. These results may promote our understanding of sport and provide a novel potential way to improve athletic performance.

Scuba Diving Risk Taking—A Terror Management Theory Perspective

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gila Miller ◽  
Orit Taubman–Ben-Ari
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Scuba Diving ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Preventive Strategy ◽  
Practical Implications

This study examined, from a Terror Management Theory (TMT) perspective, the effects of death reminders on the tendency to take risks in diving. All participants (N = 124) completed Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale and a diving related self-efficacy questionnaire. Then half of them were exposed to a mortality salience induction and the other half to the control condition. The dependent variable was self-reported intentions to take risks in diving. Findings showed that mortality salience led to greater willingness to take risks in diving vs. control condition, but only among divers with low self-esteem and low diving related self-efficacy. In addition, mortality salience led to less willingness to take risks in diving vs. the control condition only for low self-esteem divers who possessed high diving related self-efficacy. However, no effects were found for high self-esteem persons. The results are discussed in view of the self-enhancing mechanisms proposed by TMT, offering practical implications regarding the need to increase divers’ self-esteem and self-efficacy as a preventive strategy.

Terror management theory and self-esteem: Evidence that increased self-esteem reduced mortality salience effects.

1997 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eddie Harmon-Jones ◽  
Linda Simon ◽  
Jeff Greenberg ◽  
Tom Pyszczynski ◽  
Sheldon Solomon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document