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A dual-process model of defense against conscious and unconscious death-related thoughts: An extension of terror management theory
Abstract
Distinct defensive processes are activated by conscious and nonconscious but accessible thoughts of death. Proximal defenses, which entail suppressing death-related thoughts or pushing the problem of death into the distant future by denying one's vulnerability, are rational, threat-focused, and activated when thoughts of death are in current focal attention. Distal terror management defenses, which entail maintaining self-esteem and faith in one's cultural worldview, function to control the potential for anxiety that results from knowing that death is inevitable. These defenses are experiential, are not related to the problem of death in any semantic or logical way, and are increasingly activated as the accessibility of death-related thoughts increases, up to the point at which such thoughts enter consciousness and proximal threat-focused defenses are initiated. Experimental evidence for this analysis is presented.
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In the citing paper
“TMT provides a theoretical framework to explain how people cope with anxiety resulting from the awareness that death is inevitable (Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
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 Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Proximal defenses are threat-focused and function to push these thoughts out of consciousness, either by addressing them in adaptive ways or engaging in cognitive distortions. These entail either rational problem-solving responses that reduce actual risk or defensive responses such as the denial of vulnerability and biased processing of personally relevant threatening information (Croyle et al., 1”
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 Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Thus, these promote behaviors that seemingly bear no logical relationship with mortality awareness but serve anxiety-buffering functions, such as defenses of one's worldview, actions that boost self-esteem, and commitments to close relationships (Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
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 Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“According to TMT, death-related thoughts can be managed by employing two types of defense strategies: proximal defenses, which are activated against conscious awareness of death-related concerns, and distal defenses, which are activated when these thoughts are not one's focal concern (Greenberg et al., 2000; Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
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 Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Self-esteem serves as a buffer against mortality concerns based on the belief that one is a valuable contributor to the world (Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
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 Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“this study found two types of defense strategies, proximal defenses and distal defenses, from tweets in the three target countries.”
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 Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“This can be considered a form of worldview defenses, as previous studies demonstrate that mortality salience leads to more favorable evaluations of those who live up to the moral standards and hasher evaluations of moral transgressors (Florian & Mikulincer, 1997; Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
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 Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Empirical TMT studies have organized these behavioral patterns in a dual-process defense model (Pyszczynski et al., 1999) that distinguishes between proximal and distal cognitive phases (Figure 1).”
From Mortality management and climate action: A review and reference for using Terror Management Theory methods in interdisciplinary environmental research (2022) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Distal defenses, on the other hand, are unconscious and symbolic, including strategies to protect the symbolic self, such as upholding cultural worldviews, building relationships that enhance self-worth, and promoting personal significance (Abeyta et al., 2014;Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
From Death anxiety and its role in psychopathology: Reviewing the status of a transdiagnostic construct (2014) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Proximal defenses are conscious and threat-focused, including suppression of death thoughts, denial of vulnerability to mortality, and strategies to promote optimum health (Abeyta et al., 2014;Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
From Death anxiety and its role in psychopathology: Reviewing the status of a transdiagnostic construct (2014) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“People cope with unconscious death‐related thoughts with increased defense of their cultural worldview (Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
From “The greedy I that gives”—The paradox of egocentrism and altruism: Terror management and system justification perspectives on the interrelationship between mortality salience and charitable donations amid the COVID‐19 pandemic (2022) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Conscious thoughts of death are defended against with proximal defenses, which entail active suppression of such thoughts (Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
From “The greedy I that gives”—The paradox of egocentrism and altruism: Terror management and system justification perspectives on the interrelationship between mortality salience and charitable donations amid the COVID‐19 pandemic (2022) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“In response to death reminders, proximal defenses activate to 1) suppress death-thoughts that creep into focal attention, and 2) shift unwanted death-thoughts out of focal attention by rationalizing away, distracting from, or denying one's vulnerabilities (Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
From Mortality management and climate action: A review and reference for using Terror Management Theory methods in interdisciplinary environmental research (2022) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“This increased delay use may be because all review studies were published after the dual-process model was established as necessary for research design and the need for delays to access distal defenses had been recognized (Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
From Mortality management and climate action: A review and reference for using Terror Management Theory methods in interdisciplinary environmental research (2022) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Death‐related thoughts produce different effects on cognition and behavior when they are in current focal attention (i.e., conscious proximal defense) and when they are on the fringes of consciousness (i.e., unconscious distal defense) (Pyszczynski et al., 1999, 2000).”
From “The greedy I that gives”—The paradox of egocentrism and altruism: Terror management and system justification perspectives on the interrelationship between mortality salience and charitable donations amid the COVID‐19 pandemic (2022) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Distraction tasks are a common method in mortality salience research, aimed at mitigating transient emotional responses by relegating thoughts of death to an unconscious level [28].”
From Anthropomorphic Design in Mortality Salience Situations: Exploring Emotional and Non-Emotional Mechanisms Enhancing Consumer Purchase Intentions (2024) · cites this paper as [28]
In the citing paper
“A conscious reminder of death - experimentally induced with a manipulation of mortality salience -- sets in motion proximal defenses , where the individual, at least in the short-term, takes rational steps to deal with the problem, or, alternatively, denies vulnerability to danger.”
From An Integrative Terror Management Theory Perspective on Media Effects: A Model and 12 Hypotheses for Research (2016) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 1999
In the citing paper
“TMT hypotheses primarily receive support when a delay ensues between the manipulation of mortality salience and measurement of the dependent variable.”
From An Integrative Terror Management Theory Perspective on Media Effects: A Model and 12 Hypotheses for Research (2016) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 1999
In the citing paper
“Likewise, subgroups of studies that adhered most closely to the underlying theoretical arguments of the effect (longer delays enhance the effect; Pyszczynski et al., 1999), revealed significant and adequate evidential value by the p-curve”
From Managing the terror of publication bias: A comprehensive p-curve analysis of the Terror Management Theory literature (2023) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Pyszczynski et al. (1999) extended the terror management theory (TMT) framework by proposing a Dual-Process Defense Model that includes proximal and distal defenses.”
From Differences in proximal and intimacy-related defense mechanisms among patients with cancer in different psychological stages of dying (2024) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Terror Management Theory argues that humans who are aware of their own death, consciously or not, use a variety of proximal and distal defenses to protect themselves from these realized and unrealized fears of death (Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
From Preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy for death anxiety in Iranian clients diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (2020) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“practices such as thought suppression and loyalty to one's beliefs and culture are thought to act as protective factors against death anxiety and death-related thoughts (Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
From Preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy for death anxiety in Iranian clients diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (2020) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“The different time course observed for the effects of MS vs. meaning/certainty threats on worldview defense can be explained using TMT's dual defense model (Pyszczynski et al., 1999).”
From Same but different: meta-analytically examining the uniqueness of mortality salience effects (2011) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“However, with the passage of time these defenses relax, which allows death thoughts to rebound and then linger just outside consciousness. Accessible death thoughts then trigger distal defenses to push suchthoughtsfarther from awareness, reducing their potential to become conscious.”
From Same but different: meta-analytically examining the uniqueness of mortality salience effects (2011) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“According to this model, DTA and worldview defense should be low for a brief time following MS because individuals employ proximal defenses to remove thoughts and concerns about death from consciousness.”
From Same but different: meta-analytically examining the uniqueness of mortality salience effects (2011) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Worldview defense is therefore most pronounced when death-thoughts are outside current focal awareness,yethighlyaccessible.”
From Same but different: meta-analytically examining the uniqueness of mortality salience effects (2011) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Once death thoughts move out of focal awareness, these pseudorational management efforts are relaxed.”
From When Death is Good for Life: Considering the Positive Trajectories of Terror Management (2012) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 1999
In the citing paper
“From this perspective, conscious thoughts of death trigger pseudorational efforts to cope with one's vulnerability to mortality and thus push the topic out of focal awareness.”
From When Death is Good for Life: Considering the Positive Trajectories of Terror Management (2012) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 1999
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“, when death awareness is consciously removed from focal awareness, when mortality primes are presented subliminally, or when they are followed by a distraction task [11])—people are no longer able to”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Pyszczynski, T., Greenberg, J., & Solomon, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Colorado Colorado Springs (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Review
- Published
- 1999
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 835-845
- ISSN
- 0033-295X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1471
- OpenAlex
- W2007909165
- Cited by
- 1,390
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 50 · 2025: 63 · 2024: 61 · 2023: 90 · 2022: 90 · 2021: 80 · 2020: 65 · 2019: 90 · 2018: 58 · 2017: 70 · 2016: 79 · 2015: 68 · 2014: 50 · 2013: 61 · 2012: 62
- FWCI
- 19.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Review (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
- terror management theory, death-related thoughts, dual-process models, self-esteem, cultural worldview, anxiety
- MeSH terms
- Behavior Therapy, Consciousness, Death, Fear, Humans, Logic, Self Concept, Thanatology, Unconsciousness
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