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Hobson Z, Yesberg JA, Bradford B. Fear Appeals in Anti-Knife Carrying Campaigns: Successful or Counter-Productive? JOURNAL OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE 2022; 37:NP21573-NP21598. [PMID: 35038941 PMCID: PMC9679559 DOI: 10.1177/08862605211064237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
In the UK, knife crime continues to be a persistent and worrying concern. Media campaigns are often used by police and anti-knife crime organisations in an attempt to discourage young people from picking up a weapon. Many focus on the potentially devastating consequences associated with carrying a weapon, with the aim of provoking fear and thus a deterrent effect. In this paper, we present the findings from two experimental studies exploring the effects of exposure to fear-based knife crime media campaigns on young people's intentions to engage in knife-carrying behaviour. Utilising a terror management theory perspective, in both studies we found that exposure to knife-related campaign imagery increased mortality salience, but there was no effect of campaign condition on willingness to carry a knife or on perceived benefits of knife-carrying. Although knife-related self-esteem/cultural worldviews predicted attitudes towards knife-carrying, such views did not moderate the effect of exposure to knife-related campaign imagery, and there was no effect of priming participants' to consider the value of behaving responsibly. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoë Hobson
- Department of Security and Crime
Science, Institute for Global City Policing, University College
London, London, UK
| | - Julia A. Yesberg
- Department of Security and Crime
Science, Institute for Global City Policing, University College
London, London, UK
| | - Ben Bradford
- Department of Security and Crime
Science, Institute for Global City Policing, University College
London, London, UK
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2
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Lee J, Kim Y, Kelsey JP. Beyond Wishful Thinking during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Hope Reduces the Effects of Death Arousal on Hostility toward Outgroups among Conservative and Liberal Media Users for COVID-19 Information. HEALTH COMMUNICATION 2022; 37:1832-1841. [PMID: 33941006 DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2021.1921906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has made death more salient to individuals, which has partly contributed to the amplification of hostility toward others who have different perspectives from oneself. Recognizing that the politicization of COVID-19 and the resulting polarization have become increasingly critical issues, this study investigates how death-related thinking and hope about the pandemic can affect hostility toward outgroups as well as how conservative and liberal media usages moderate the indirect effects of hope. An online survey experiment of people in the U.S. (N = 759) during the pandemic showed that death arousal reduced hope and that these low levels of hope exacerbated hostility toward outgroups in the pandemic context, confirming the positive impact of hope. Importantly, however, our study did not show that hope had a beneficial impact for heavy conservative media users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiyoung Lee
- Department of Journalism and Creative Media, The University of Alabama
| | - Yungwook Kim
- School of Communication and Media, Ewha Womans University
| | - John P Kelsey
- College of Communication and Information Sciences, The University of Alabama
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Zhou J, Chen Y, Xu Y, Liao B, Fu W. Facing a Real Threat of Death: Dynamic Changes in Death-Thought Accessibility. Psychol Res Behav Manag 2022; 15:1731-1740. [PMID: 35860205 PMCID: PMC9292051 DOI: 10.2147/prbm.s361432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose This study explored the relationship between emotion and death-thought accessibility (DTA) in individuals experiencing true mortality salience (MS), specifically, patients with cancer. Patients and Methods The study included 255 participants; among them, 132 patients had cancer and represented the MS group, and 123 had dental pain and served as a control group. Participants completed the Projective Diseases Attitude Assessment Questionnaire to induce priming, completed an affect scale, completed one of four calculation tasks as manipulation of cognitive load (all four were done over several sessions), and performed a Pinyin-Chinese characters exercise to measure DTA. Results MS was associated with strong negative emotional arousal. When these negative emotions are generated, they enter an individual’s consciousness and activate proximal defense mechanisms. At this point, DTA can be measured. Patients with cancer had significantly higher levels of DTA in the high-frequency cognitive load condition than in the other three conditions (no task, simple delay task, and single cognitive load task). Patients with dental pain had significantly higher levels of DTA in the no task and simple delay conditions than in the single cognitive load or high-frequency cognitive load conditions. This study also found that negative experiences without MS (specifically, dental pain) are associated with higher levels of DTA. Conclusion These findings suggest that in addition to death-related events, both negative and stress-inducing events can produce DTA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Zhou
- School of Humanities and Management Science, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, SiChuan, 646000, People's Republic of China
| | - Yi Chen
- School of Humanities and Management Science, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, SiChuan, 646000, People's Republic of China
| | - Yi Xu
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, People's Republic of China
| | - Bin Liao
- Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, SiChuan, 646000, People's Republic of China
| | - Wenguang Fu
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, 646000, People's Republic of China
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Emotional responses to mortality salience: Behavioral and ERPs evidence. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0248699. [PMID: 33730033 PMCID: PMC7968674 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248699] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2020] [Accepted: 03/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Terror Management Theory (TMT) suggests that death-related thoughts activate proximal defense which allows people to suppress or rationalize death awareness. So far there is no direct evidence to support the emotional response in the proximal defense process. The current research aimed to address this issue by examining behavioral (e.g., accuracy and reaction time) and neural responses (e.g., P1 and N400 amplitude) related to emotional arousal following death-related thoughts during proximal defense. Before engaged in emotional words (e.g., anxiety, fear and neutral) judgment task, participants answered questions that referred to emotional and physical changes about death to induce mortality salience (MS). In the control condition, participants received similar instructions concerning the experience of watching TV. Behavioral results showed that longer reaction time of words was seen in control group than MS group. The ERPs results showed that after reminders of death-related thoughts, in condition of MS, fear words elicited larger P1 ERP amplitudes, while the control group did not have this effect, which might reflect that emotional words caused different early attention patterns between MS group and control group. Moreover, compared with control group, larger N400 ERP amplitudes were elicited in condition of MS, suggesting larger cognitive inhibition of words processing caused by emotional reaction. The above results indicate that the early stages after mortality salience will induce fear and anxiety, but soon these negative emotions are suppressed and are at a lower level of accessibility. This result provides electrophysiological evidence for the proximal defense hypothesis of terror management theory.
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Jutzi CA, Willardt R, Schmid PC, Jonas E. Between Conspiracy Beliefs, Ingroup Bias, and System Justification: How People Use Defense Strategies to Cope With the Threat of COVID-19. Front Psychol 2020; 11:578586. [PMID: 33101147 PMCID: PMC7555435 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.578586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2020] [Accepted: 09/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The current situation around coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) portrays a threat to us in several ways: It imposes uncertainty and a lack of control and reminds us of our own mortality. People around the world have reacted to these threats in seemingly unrelated ways: From stockpiling yeast and toilet paper to favoring nationalist ideas or endorsing conspiratorial beliefs. According to the General Process Model of Threat and Defense, the confrontation with a threat - a discrepant experience - makes humans react with both proximal and distal threat responses. While the proximal response manifests in behavioral inhibition that leads to heightened anxious arousal and vigilance, distal responses seek to lower behavioral inhibition and the associated state of anxiety and vigilance through engaging in distal defenses. In the present research, we propose that the reactions to COVID-19 may represent distal defense strategies to the pandemic and, therefore, can be explained and forecasted by the model. Thus, we hypothesized increased perceived COVID-19 threat to lead to a proximal threat response in the form of heightened behavioral inhibition. This, in return, should enhance the use of distal defenses (i.e., several ingroup biases, system justification, and conspiratorial beliefs) overlapping with the reactions observed as a response to COVID-19. This hypothesized mediated effect of increased perceived COVID-19 threat on distal defenses was tested in two preregistered studies: In Study 1 (N = 358), results showed perceived COVID-19 threat to be related to behavioral inhibition and, in turn, to be associated with increased distal defenses (i.e., higher entitativity, control restoration motivation, passive party support). In Study 2 (N = 348), we manipulated COVID-19 threat salience and found results suggesting the distal defenses of ingroup entitativity, system justification, and conspiratorial beliefs to be mediated by the proximal threat response. The results of the present research hint toward a common mechanism through which the seemingly unrelated reactions to COVID-19 can be explained. The results might help to predict future behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic and to design measures to counteract the detrimental effects of the pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara A. Jutzi
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Robin Willardt
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Management, Technology, and Economics, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Petra C. Schmid
- Department of Management, Technology, and Economics, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Eva Jonas
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
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Westerlund M, Santtila P, Antfolk J. Regulating emotions under exposure to negative out-group-related news material results in increased acceptance of out-groups. The Journal of Social Psychology 2020; 160:357-372. [PMID: 31594481 DOI: 10.1080/00224545.2019.1675575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Negative emotions affect the acceptance of out-groups. Here, we investigated whether modifying negative emotions would affect perceptions of out-groups. We experimentally manipulated the use of two emotion regulation strategies: suppression of emotional expression and cognitive reappraisal, the latter involving reframing a situation to mitigate its emotional impact. Using a population-based sample (N = 317), we conducted an online randomized controlled trial. Participants regulated their emotions while reading threatening news about out-groups. Not only reappraisal, but also suppression increased immediate acceptance of out-groups. The effect of reappraisal was partly mediated by decreased disgust, suggesting unique effects of reappraisal on this emotion. In the suppression condition acceptance decreased at high levels of habitual emotion regulation, whereas reappraisal showed an opposite tendency. Previous research may have underestimated the importance of different emotion regulation strategies on prejudice, and that relatively simple interventions can affect prejudice. The findings are of interest to prejudice prevention programs.
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Hayes J, Rafferty JM. (Don't Fear) the Reefer: Cannabis Worldview Beliefs and the Management of Death-Related Existential Concerns Among High Frequency Cannabis Users. JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1521/jscp.2020.39.4.315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Introduction: The current research employed a terror management framework to understand the cognitive effects of frequent drug use. The study focused specifically on cannabis users and tested the hypothesis that frequent cannabis use is associated with the development of cannabis-related worldview beliefs that take on an existential function for frequent users. Method: Participants (N = 226) answered questions about their cannabis use and completed a measure of cannabis worldview investment. Thereafter, they were randomly assigned to a cannabis worldview threat (vs. no threat) condition and completed measures of death-thought accessibility (DTA) and cannabis worldview defense. Results: A positive association between frequency of cannabis use and cannabis worldview investment was observed. Moreover, among high frequency cannabis users, those highly invested in the cannabis worldview evinced significantly more DTA following exposure to the worldview threat than no threat condition. Participants with high investment in the cannabis worldview also showed more derogation of the cannabis worldview threat (vs. no threat) essay-author. However, this relationship was not influenced by DTA or frequency of cannabis use. Discussion: A terror management perspective on drug use is discussed, including implications for understanding drug abuse, addiction, and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Hayes
- Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada
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Hubley C, Hayes J, Harvey M, Musto S. To the Victors Go the Existential Spoils: The Mental-Health Benefits of Cultural Worldview Defense for People WHO Successfully Meet Cultural Standards and Valued Goals. JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1521/jscp.2020.39.4.274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Introduction: Research in support of terror management theory suggests that mortality concerns will activate symbolic defenses associated with cultural worldviews, and when these defenses are activated, mental health will benefit. However, no study to date has examined this process in full. We filled this gap, while testing the moderating effect of feeling successful vis-à-vis cultural value-standards. Method: In two studies, we hypothesized that participants who feel successful at meeting cultural standards would engage cultural worldview defense (WVD) following mortality salience (MS), and as a consequence of their defensiveness, would experience greater mental health. Results: In Study 1, MS increased pro-American WVD only among relatively wealthy participants, which in turn reduced death-thought accessibility. In Study 2, MS increased pro-American WVD only among participants primed with felt success (vs. failure), which in turn reduced anxiety and depression. Conclusions: Culture can relieve death-related distress and promote mental health to the extent that it provides feelings of success.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Mary Harvey
- University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
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Cai W, Cai H, Li H. Why do humans pursue higher social class? Death anxiety matters. DEATH STUDIES 2020; 46:434-441. [PMID: 32180539 DOI: 10.1080/07481187.2020.1740828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
This research examined whether death anxiety motivated individuals to pursue a higher social class. Two studies were conducted to provide supporting evidence. Study 1 (n = 1847) showed that higher chronic death anxiety was associated with stronger motivation to pursue a higher social class. Study 2 (n = 135) showed that situationally induced death anxiety augmented the pursuit of a higher social class and was associated with choosing lower criteria for joining a higher social class. Together, the two studies provided both experimental and correlational evidence for the motivational significance of death anxiety in pursuing a higher social class.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Cai
- School of Humanities and Management/Research Center for Quality of Life and Applied Psychology, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, Guangdong, P. R. China
- Research Centre of Brain Function and Psychological Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, P. R. China
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Huajian Cai
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Hong Li
- Research Centre of Brain Function and Psychological Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, P. R. China
- Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, and Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, P. R. China
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Klackl J, Jonas E. Effects of Mortality Salience on Physiological Arousal. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1893. [PMID: 31481914 PMCID: PMC6710453 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2019] [Accepted: 07/31/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Making the inevitability of mortality salient makes people more defensive about their self-esteem and worldviews. Theoretical arguments and empirical evidence point to a mediating role of arousal in this defensive process, but evidence from physiological measurement studies is scarce and inconclusive. The present study seeks to draw a comprehensive picture of how physiological arousal develops over time in the mortality salience (MS) paradigm, and whether contemplating one's mortality actually elicits more physiological arousal than reflecting on a death-unrelated aversive control topic. In a between-subjects design, participants were asked two open questions about their mortality or about dental pain. Cardiac, respiratory, and electrodermal indicators of arousal were measured both as participants provided written answers to the questions, and during a series of resting intervals surrounding the questions. A Bayes factor analysis indicated support for the hypothesis that the MS paradigm increases physiological arousal, both while answering the two open-ended questions and afterward. Regarding the MS versus dental pain comparison, the null hypothesis of no difference was supported for most analysis segments and signals. The results indicate that the arousal elicited by MS is not different from that elicited by dental pain salience. This speaks against the idea that worldview defense following MS occurs because MS produces higher physiological arousal. Of course, this finding does not rule the importance of other forms of arousal (i.e., subjective arousal) for MS effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Klackl
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Eva Jonas
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
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When sex doesn't sell to men: mortality salience, disgust and the appeal of products and advertisements featuring sexualized women. MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 2017; 41:478-491. [PMID: 28757667 PMCID: PMC5509837 DOI: 10.1007/s11031-017-9615-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Although men typically hold favorable views of advertisements featuring female sexuality, from a Terror Management Theory perspective, this should be less the case when thoughts of human mortality are salient. Two experiments conducted in South Korea supported this hypothesis across a variety of products (e.g., perfume and vodka). Men became more negative towards advertisements featuring female sexuality, and had reduced purchase intentions for those products, after thinking about their own mortality. Study 2 found that these effects were mediated by heightened disgust. Mortality thoughts did not impact women in either study. These findings uniquely demonstrate that thoughts of death interact with female sex-appeal to influence men’s consumer choices, and that disgust mediates these processes. Implications for the role of emotion, and cultural differences, in terror management, for attitudes toward female sexuality, and for marketing strategies are discussed.
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Praising the dead: On the motivational tendency and psychological function of eulogizing the deceased. MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s11031-016-9545-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Webber D, Zhang R, Schimel J, Blatter J. Finding death in meaninglessness: Evidence that death-thought accessibility increases in response to meaning threats. BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2015; 55:144-61. [DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2014] [Revised: 04/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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