The DOI matches its Crossref record; 21 of the 22 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Evidence for terror management theory II: The effects of mortality salience on reactions to those who threaten or bolster the cultural worldview
Abstract
Three experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis, derived from terror management theory, that reminding people of their mortality increases attraction to those who consensually validate their beliefs and decreases attraction to those who threaten their beliefs. In Study 1, subjects with a Chris-tian religious background were asked to form impressions of Christian and Jewish target persons. Before doing so, mortality was made salient to half of the subjects. In support of predictions, mortal-ity salience led to more positive evaluations of the in-group member (the Christian) and more nega-tive evaluations of the out-group member (the Jew). In Study 2, mortality salience led to especially negative evaluations of an attitudinally dissimilar other, but only among subjects high in authoritari-anism. In Study 3, mortality salience led to especially positive reactions to someone who directly praised subjects ' cultural worldviews and especially negative reactions to someone who criticized them. The implications of these findings for understanding in-group favoritism, prejudice, and intol-erance of deviance are discussed. One of the most destructive and perplexing problems facing contemporary society is the pervasive tendency of people to re-spond with hostility and disdain toward those who are different
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In the citing paper
“However, religion can also be divisive, with mortality salience leading to more positive views of in-group members (own religion) and negative views of out-group members (other religions) (Greenberg et al., 1990).”
From Understanding terror states of online users in the context of COVID-19: An application of Terror Management Theory (2021) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1990
In the citing paper
“While there is a considerable body of literature on TMT, most empirical evidence is from laboratory settings (e.g., Greenberg et al., 1990; Harmon-Jones et al., 1997).”
From Understanding user responses to the COVID-19 pandemic on Twitter from a terror management theory perspective: Cultural differences among the US, UK and India (2022) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1990
In the citing paper
“which may have been motivated by people's need to protect their in-group against an out-group (Das et al., 2009; Greenberg et al., 1990) that they believed to be a major contributor to the pandemic.”
From Understanding user responses to the COVID-19 pandemic on Twitter from a terror management theory perspective: Cultural differences among the US, UK and India (2022) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1990
In the citing paper
“For example, manipulations of mortality salience increase ingroup favoritism [51] and nationalistic bias [52].”
From The amoral atheist? A cross-national examination of cultural, motivational, and cognitive antecedents of disbelief, and their implications for morality (2021) · cites this paper as [51]
In the citing paper
“based on a substantial literature linking various existential threats to increased group cohesion [34, 51–54]”
From The amoral atheist? A cross-national examination of cultural, motivational, and cognitive antecedents of disbelief, and their implications for morality (2021) · cites this paper as [51]
In the citing paper
“And all evaluations of worldview defense (essay and author evaluation) were identical to those used in foundational research in this field [5, 27, 82, 89].”
From Not so terrifying after all? A set of failed replications of the mortality salience effects of Terror Management Theory (2023) · cites this paper as [82]
In the citing paper
“Research shows that mortality salience enhances agreement with individuals who vindicate our cultural worldviews and increases disagreement with others who are presumed to be hostile to our viewpoints”
From An Integrative Terror Management Theory Perspective on Media Effects: A Model and 12 Hypotheses for Research (2016) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1990
In the citing paper
“Thus, generally speaking, mortality salience increases ingroup favoritism as well as outgroup derogation.”
From Existential threat and responses to emotional displays of ingroup and outgroup members (2023) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1990
In the citing paper
“participants engaged in the same mortality salience manipulation procedure as in Study 1 and Study 2 (Greenberg et al., 1990)”
From Existential threat and responses to emotional displays of ingroup and outgroup members (2023) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1990
In the citing paper
“TMT has been applied to understand human activities such as religion (e.g., belief in an afterlife grants literal immortality, alleviating mortality terror; Jonas & Fischer, 2006), cultural identity (e.g., belief in being part of a greater good that will persist after death; Greenberg et al., 1990), and inter-group conflict (Burke et al., 2010).”
From Many Labs 4: Failure to Replicate Mortality Salience Effect With and Without Original Author Involvement (2022) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1990
In the citing paper
“A large body of research has shown, for example, that participants assigned to MS conditions (e.g., writing about death, exposure to death-related imagery or words), compared to those assigned to other psychologically aversive conditions (e.g., dental pain, uncertainty, failure, public speaking), evidence increased affinity for those who share important cultural beliefs and against those who hold”
From An Appreciative View of the Brighter Side of Terror Management Processes (2015) · cites this paper as [7]
In the citing paper
“Research has repeatedly demonstrated that terror management processes contribute to intergroup biases [7,16], racism and stereotyping [17], and aggression towards individuals who threaten one's cultural worldview [9].”
From An Appreciative View of the Brighter Side of Terror Management Processes (2015) · cites this paper as [7]
Citations
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The Causes and Consequences of a Need for Self-Esteem: A Terror Management Theory
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., & Solomon, S. (1986) · Public Self and Private Self · doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-9564-5_10 · Cited by 2,326
Self-citation
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment.
Haidt, J. (2001) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.108.4.814 · Cited by 8,048
Political conservatism as motivated social cognition.
Jost, J. T., Glaser, J., Kruglanski, A. W., & Sulloway, F. J. (2003) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.129.3.339 · Cited by 4,904
Cyberostracism: effects of being ignored over the Internet
Williams, K. D., Cheung, C. K. T., & Choi, W. (2000) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.748 · Cited by 2,276
Hewstone, M., Rubin, M., & Willis, H. (2002) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135109 · Cited by 2,031
Social Functions of Emotions at Four Levels of Analysis
Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (1999) · Cognition and Emotion · doi:10.1080/026999399379168 · Cited by 1,743
Metadata
- Authors
- Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., Rosenblatt, A., Veeder, M., Kirkland, S., & Lyon, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- University of Colorado Colorado Springs (US)
- Skidmore College (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 1990-02
- Volume
- 58
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 308-318
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2106674466
- Cited by
- 1,412
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 60 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 76 · 2019: 78 · 2018: 53 · 2017: 77 · 2016: 69 · 2015: 59 · 2014: 65 · 2013: 65 · 2012: 59
- FWCI
- 9.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
- Keywords
- terror management theory, mortality salience, cultural worldview, in-group favoritism, prejudice, authoritarianism, intergroup evaluation, attitude similarity
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