Literal and symbolic immortality: The effect of evidence of literal immortality on self-esteem striving in response to mortality salience.
Abstract
Three studies investigated the effect of encouraging participants to believe in an afterlife on the relationship between mortality salience and self-esteem striving. Participants were exposed to essays arguing either in favor of or against the existence of an afterlife, and reminded about death or a control topic. Mortality salience led to increased accuracy ratings of a positive personality description (Studies 1 and 2) and increased striving for and defense of values (Study 3) among participants who read the essay arguing against an afterlife, but not among participants who read the essay in favor of it. The implications for the terror management analysis of self-esteem, the appeal of immortality beliefs, and the interplay between self-esteem striving and spiritual pursuits are discussed.
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The terror resulting from thoughts of death is mitigated by one's personal success, value, and meaning achieved by being part of something bigger than oneself.
“Thus, the terror resulting from thoughts of death is mitigated by one’s personal success, value, and meaning achieved by being part of something bigger than oneself [15, 16].”
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 [16]
Inducing mortality salience increases need for the anxiety buffer.
“To the extent that this anxiety buffer, which is a social psychological structure consisting of people's cultural worldviews and their self‐esteem, provides protection against death threats, inducing mortality salience increases their need for this buffer (Dechesne et al., 2003; Van den Bos et al., 2005).”
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- Authors
- Dechesne, M., Pyszczynski, T., Arndt, J., Ransom, S., Sheldon, K. M., van Knippenberg, A., & Janssen, J.
- Affiliations
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- University of Colorado Colorado Springs (US)
- University of Missouri (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2003
- Volume
- 84
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 722-737
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W1982592484
- Cited by
- 375
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 14.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Keywords
- mortality salience, afterlife beliefs, symbolic immortality, terror management theory, spiritual pursuit, fear of death
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Attitude to Death, Culture, Death, Feedback, Humans, Personality, Surveys and Questionnaires, Reading, Self Concept, Symbolism, Time Factors
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