‘Heroes aren’t always so great!’–Heroic perceptions under mortality salience
Open accessAbstract
According to terror management theory, in a first study (N = 80), we tested the hypothesis that heroic perceptions of historic heroes would become more positive under mortality salience. Results, however, showed the opposite effect – heroic perceptions were less positive. To explain this unexpected finding, we referred to a social comparison perspective, assuming comparisons with a hero are likely to be unfavorable for one’s self-esteem. Two further (pre-registered) studies were conducted to test this idea. Mortality salience effects in Study 2 (N = 615) were not significant. However, using an improved experimental procedure in Study 3 (N = 600), heroic perceptions were indeed significantly less positive under MS, especially for participants with low trait self-esteem and low social comparison orientation.
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Diverse validity and attention checks, such as those included in the present studies, adequately protect data quality.
“Although some recent concerns about MTurk quality have emerged, data support that diverse validity and attention checks, such as those included in the present studies, adequately protect data quality [90–92].”
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 [91]
Preregistered and high-powered studies on mortality salience effects are rare.
“On the other hand, preregistered and high-powered studies on MS effects are rare (for exceptions, see Courtney et al., 2021; Dunn et al., 2020; Schindler, Pfattheicher, et al., 2019; Vail et al., 2019).”
From Do Salient Social Norms Moderate Mortality Salience Effects? A (Challenging) Meta-Analysis of Terror Management Studies (2023) · cites this paper as Schindler, Pfattheicher, et al., 2019
According to previous research, one such social norm could be honesty, given that the rule of not lying can be seen as universal.
“According to previous research, one such social norm could be honesty, given that the rule of not lying can be seen as universal (Schindler et al., 2021; Schindler, Reinhard, et al., 2019).”
From Do Salient Social Norms Moderate Mortality Salience Effects? A (Challenging) Meta-Analysis of Terror Management Studies (2023) · cites this paper as Schindler, Reinhard, et al., 2019
Of the 6 relevant pre-registered high-powered replication studies of the mortality salience hypothesis, 3 successfully replicated the original study and 3 did not.
“Of the 6 relevant studies that we found, 3 of them successfully replicated the original study (Dunn et al., 2020; Schindler et al., 2019; Vail et al., 2019), whereas 3 of them did not (Rodríguez-Ferreiro et al., 2019; Sætrevik & Sjåstad, 2019; Schindler et al., 2021).”
From Managing the terror of publication bias: A comprehensive p-curve analysis of the Terror Management Theory literature (2023) · cites this paper as Schindler et al., 2019
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Self-citationTwo Decades of Terror Management Theory: A Meta-Analysis of Mortality Salience Research
Burke, B. L., Martens, A., & Faucher, E. H. (2010) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868309352321 · Cited by 1,188 · cited 2× · see citing works
“A meta-analysis found that reactions to MS were stronger with longer delay (Burke et al., 2010).”
BackgroundMethodFor better or worse: The impact of upward social comparison on self-evaluations
Collins, R. L. (1996) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.119.1.51 · Cited by 1,166 · cited 1× · see citing works
“This type of comparison is assumed to lead to self-improvement motivation but at the same time to involve the possibility of a self-esteem threat (e.g. Collins, 1996; Lockwood & Kunda, 1997).”
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Self-citationSubliminal exposure to death-related stimuli increases defense of the cultural worldview
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Tit for tat in the face of death: The effect of mortality salience on reciprocal behavior
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Defending one's worldview under mortality salience: Testing the validity of an established idea
Schindler, S., Reinhardt, N., & Reinhard, M.-A. (2021) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104087 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
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
“…those MS studies that manipulated descriptive ingroup norms (e.g., Jonas & Fritsche, 2012) should be more suitable for testing this hypothesis than those that primed general norms or universal values of human conduct, such as benevolence (Jonas et al., 2008) or honesty (Schindler et al., 2019).”
BackgroundSelf-citationTreger, S., Benau, E. M., & Timko, C. A. (2023) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0285267 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“Some online TMT research has resulted in atypical results [91] and failures to replicate [32, 47].”
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- Authors
- Schindler, S., Pfattheicher, S., Reinhard, M.-A., & Greenberg, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Kassel (DE)
- Aarhus University (DK)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Corresponding author
- Schindler, Simon
- Venue
- Social Influence
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-08-26
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 3-4
- Pages
- 77-91
- ISSN
- 1553-4510 (ISSN-L)
- 1553-4529
- OpenAlex
- W2970038568
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 2.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Social Influence (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Leadership, Courage, and Heroism Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- mortality salience, terror management theory, social comparison, self-esteem, social comparison orientation, heroism
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