Consuming Death: An analysis of Terror Management Theory, Materialism, and Spirituality
(2015) PSYP01 20151Department of Psychology
- Abstract
- Terror Management Theory (TMT) presupposes that dealing with the fact of death promotes varying types of psychological behaviors and thoughts (Kasser & Sheldon, 2000). These thoughts then influence a persons' perception of existence. Mortality salience (MS) research, which involves being reminded of death, has succeeded in highlighting tendencies of individuals responding to death reminders (Greenberg, 1990). Some research has suggested that the desire to be materialistic increases following MS (Kasser & Sheldon, 2000; Arndt, Solomon, Kasser, & Sheldon, 2004). This study attempted to measure Self-transcendence and Religiosity, and then compare these scores with Materialism scores in a broad international population after MS conditions, in... (More)
- Terror Management Theory (TMT) presupposes that dealing with the fact of death promotes varying types of psychological behaviors and thoughts (Kasser & Sheldon, 2000). These thoughts then influence a persons' perception of existence. Mortality salience (MS) research, which involves being reminded of death, has succeeded in highlighting tendencies of individuals responding to death reminders (Greenberg, 1990). Some research has suggested that the desire to be materialistic increases following MS (Kasser & Sheldon, 2000; Arndt, Solomon, Kasser, & Sheldon, 2004). This study attempted to measure Self-transcendence and Religiosity, and then compare these scores with Materialism scores in a broad international population after MS conditions, in comparison to scores not involving MS. It was determined that there was no significant difference in response to the MS writing condition versus a control condition writing about pain. However, Self-transcendence measures proved to be a negative predictor (β = -.236, p < .001) of Materialism scores in the combined population of participants (N = 426). This suggests that those inclined towards a Self-transcendent perspective are more likely to be less Materialistic. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/7851913
- author
- Brown, Alex LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- PSYP01 20151
- year
- 2015
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Self-transcendence, Mortality Salience, Terror Management Theory, Materialism, Death
- language
- English
- id
- 7851913
- date added to LUP
- 2015-09-02 09:18:45
- date last changed
- 2015-09-02 09:18:45
@misc{7851913, abstract = {{Terror Management Theory (TMT) presupposes that dealing with the fact of death promotes varying types of psychological behaviors and thoughts (Kasser & Sheldon, 2000). These thoughts then influence a persons' perception of existence. Mortality salience (MS) research, which involves being reminded of death, has succeeded in highlighting tendencies of individuals responding to death reminders (Greenberg, 1990). Some research has suggested that the desire to be materialistic increases following MS (Kasser & Sheldon, 2000; Arndt, Solomon, Kasser, & Sheldon, 2004). This study attempted to measure Self-transcendence and Religiosity, and then compare these scores with Materialism scores in a broad international population after MS conditions, in comparison to scores not involving MS. It was determined that there was no significant difference in response to the MS writing condition versus a control condition writing about pain. However, Self-transcendence measures proved to be a negative predictor (β = -.236, p < .001) of Materialism scores in the combined population of participants (N = 426). This suggests that those inclined towards a Self-transcendent perspective are more likely to be less Materialistic.}}, author = {{Brown, Alex}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Consuming Death: An analysis of Terror Management Theory, Materialism, and Spirituality}}, year = {{2015}}, }