Terror management theory and the impact of individual and collective mortality salience on symbolic and literal immortality beliefs

According to Terror Management Theory (TMT), many human behaviors, attitudes, and thoughts are the result of an attempt to reduce the uncomfortable feelings associated with the knowledge that human life is finite. Although many of TMT’s postulates have been supported by research, the assumption that an underlying desire for literal or symbolic immortality is partly responsible for mortality salience responses has received less research attention. Additionally, there has been little research investigating the possibility that different forms of mortality salience may be associated with different behavioral, emotional, and cognitive reactions. The first study examined views of having children (a form of symbolic immortality) as a function of individual mortality salience (increased awareness of one’s own death), Collective mortality salience, (increased awareness of the deaths of others), or no mortality salience. Overall, results from Study 1 did not support the theory that different forms of mortality salience would result in different responses to questions about parenthood desirability. In partial support of predictions, however, participants in the individual mortality salience condition did report an increased sense of urgency to have children compared to those in the control condition. The second study examined views on religion, spirituality, and the possibility of an afterlife (a form of literal immortality) as a function of individual, collective, or no mortality salience. In contrast to predictions, the mortality salience inductions had no effect on self-reported measures of religion, spirituality, and opinions about an afterlife – thereby offering little support for the theory that mortality salience increases religiosity and spirituality. Study 2 also did not support the hypothesis regarding different reactions to different mortality salience types, as individual and collective mortality salience conditions produced virtually identical results. The third study examined the possibility that thinking about one’s children prior to experiencing increased death awareness would moderate the mortality salience effect. Although this prediction was not supported, the results did support previous research demonstrating a tendency for highly neurotic individuals to be more responsive to mortality salience inductions.