Role of consciousness and accessibility of death-related thoughts in mortality salience effects.
Abstract
On the basis of terror management theory, research has shown that subtle mortality salience inductions engender increased prejudice, nationalism, and intergroup bias. Study 1 replicated this effect (increased preference for a pro-U.S. author over an anti-U.S. author) and found weaker effects when Ss are led to think more deeply about mortality or about the death of a loved one. Study 2 showed that this effect is not produced by thoughts of non-death-related aversive events. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that this effect occurs only if Ss are distracted from mortality salience before assessment of its effects. Study 4 revealed that although the accessibility of death-related thoughts does not increase immediately after mortality salience, it does increase after Ss are distracted from mortality salience. These findings suggest that mortality salience effects are unique to thoughts of death and occur primarily when such thoughts are highly accessible but outside of consciousness.
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A large Many Labs experiment failed to replicate a classic terror management theory finding.
“A large Many Labs experiment (Klein etal.2022) failed to replicate a classic TMT finding (evaluating an anti- and pro- America essay; Greenberg et al. 1994).”
From Terror Management Theory in the Consumer Domain: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis on Mortality Salience Driven Consumer Responses (2025) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al. 1994
Death-thought accessibility was measured via a word-stem completion task with intercoder reliability between two independent coders of 0.94.
“intercoder reliability between two independent coders = 0.94; range = 0 [lowest] to 7 [highest]”
Following the delay, the inability to suppress death thoughts results in behavioral and attitudinal shifts (distal effects).
“Following the delay, the inability to suppress death thoughts results in behavioral and attitudinal shifts (distal effects) that are of interest to the researcher.”
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 [27]
All evaluations of worldview defense (essay and author evaluation) were identical to those used in foundational research in this field.
“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 [27]
Study 1 of Greenberg et al. (1994) provided evidence that reminders of death induce worldview defense, and that this effect was stronger when the reminders of death were comparatively subtle than when they were more emotionally salient.
“Study 1 of Greenberg et al. (1994) provided evidence that reminders of death induce worldview defense, and that this effect was stronger when the reminders of death were comparatively subtle (i.e., thinking about one's own death) than when reminders of death were more emotionally salient (i.e., thinking about one's own death and reflecting on their deepest feelings about dying).”
From Many Labs 4: Failure to Replicate Mortality Salience Effect With and Without Original Author Involvement (2022) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1994
In the original study, participants in the 'subtle own death salient' condition showed a greater preference for the pro-American author than for the anti-American author (Mean Diff = 12.25), compared to participants in the 'TV salient' control condition (Mean Diff = 1.64), t(53) = 4.87, p < .001, Cohen's d = 1.34.
“A pairwise comparison revealed that participants in the”
From Many Labs 4: Failure to Replicate Mortality Salience Effect With and Without Original Author Involvement (2022) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1994
In the original study, participants in the death salient condition reported a greater preference for the pro-American essay author over the anti-American essay author, compared to participants in the control condition.
“Specifically, participants in the death salient condition reported a greater preference for the pro-American essay author over the anti-American essay author, compared to participants in the control condition.”
From Many Labs 4: Failure to Replicate Mortality Salience Effect With and Without Original Author Involvement (2022) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1994
The mortality salience effect from Greenberg et al. (1994) was not replicated under any conditions in this study.
“Our results were non-diagnostic of whether original author involvement improves replicability because we were unable to replicate the finding under any conditions.”
From Many Labs 4: Failure to Replicate Mortality Salience Effect With and Without Original Author Involvement (2022) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1994
The original mortality salience effect on worldview defense had an effect size of d = 1.34.
“It could be that changes in history have substantially altered the observability of the effect (original d = 1.34; replication d ranged from 0.07 to 0.13 in the confirmatory tests).”
From Many Labs 4: Failure to Replicate Mortality Salience Effect With and Without Original Author Involvement (2022) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1994
The primary finding of interest from Greenberg et al. (1994) was that participants who underwent the mortality salience treatment showed greater preference for the pro-US essay author over the anti-US essay author as compared to the control condition.
“The primary finding of interest from Greenberg et al. (1994) was that participants who underwent the mortality salience treatment showed greater preference for the pro-US essay author over the anti-US essay author as compared to the control condition.”
From Many Labs 4: Failure to Replicate Mortality Salience Effect With and Without Original Author Involvement (2022) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1994
The dual defense model proposed within TMT suggests that the effect of MS on worldview defense has a signature time course.
“The dual defense model proposed within TMT therefore suggests that the effect of MS on worldview defense has a signature time course.”
From Same but different: meta-analytically examining the uniqueness of mortality salience effects (2011) · cites this paper as Greenberg et al., 1994
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Self-citationSchindler, S., Hilgard, J., Fritsche, I., Burke, B., & Pfattheicher, S. (2023) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/10888683221107267 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“In these studies—without norm priming—MS was expected, for example, to enhance derogation of an anti-American author by American participants (Greenberg et al., 1994).”
BackgroundFrench, C., Greenauer, N., & Mello, C. (2017) · Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care · doi:10.1080/15524256.2017.1331181 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Trafimow, D., & Hughes, J. S. (2012) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550611432938 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
On Social Death: Ostracism and the Accessibility of Death Thoughts
Steele, C., Kidd, D. C., & Castano, E. (2015) · Death Studies · doi:10.1080/07481187.2013.844746 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
“In their research, Hart et al. found that thoughts of death provoked cultural worldview defense among anxiously attached individuals but not securely attached ones, suggesting that a secure attachment serves as a natural buffer against death anxiety. Likewise, threats to cultural worldviews and SE (i.e., the two tradi…”
BackgroundTit for tat in the face of death: The effect of mortality salience on reciprocal behavior
Schindler, S., Reinhard, M.-A., & Stahlberg, D. (2013) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2012.06.002 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Older Adults and the Fear of Death: The Protective Function of Generativity
Major, R. J., Whelton, W. J., Schimel, J., & Sharpe, D. (2016) · Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement · doi:10.1017/s0714980816000143 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Guthrie, D. (2023) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916221093613 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
He Dies, He Scores: Evidence That Reminders of Death Motivate Improved Performance in Basketball
Zestcott, C. A., Lifshin, U., Helm, P., & Greenberg, J. (2016) · Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology · doi:10.1123/jsep.2016-0025 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Self-citationTreger, S., Benau, E. M., & Timko, C. A. (2023) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0285267 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“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].”
BackgroundMethodResultEmpowering the self: Using the terror management health model to promote breast self-examination
Cooper, D. P., Goldenberg, J. L., & Arndt, J. (2011) · Self and Identity · doi:10.1080/15298868.2010.527495 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Routledge, C., Juhl, J., Abeyta, A., & Roylance, C. (2014) · Social Psychology · doi:10.1027/1864-9335/a000172 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
- Authors
- Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., Simon, L., & Breus, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- University of Colorado Colorado Springs (US)
- Skidmore College (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 1994
- Volume
- 67
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 627-637
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2089999736
- Cited by
- 901
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 47 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 37 · 2015: 41 · 2014: 47 · 2013: 49 · 2012: 37
- FWCI
- 11.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- mortality salience, terror management theory, death-related thoughts, consciousness, nationalism, prejudice, intergroup bias, distraction
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Analysis of Variance, Attitude to Death, Cognition, Culture, Defense Mechanisms, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Prejudice, Thinking, Time Factors, Unconscious, Psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
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