A Little Piece of Me: When Mortality Reminders Lead to Giving to Others
Abstract
Past research demonstrates that reminders of one’s own mortality can lead to materialistic and self-serving consumer behaviors. In contrast, across five studies, we explore a condition under which mortality salience (MS) leads to increased tendency to give away one’s possessions—when the donation act is high in transcendence potential. We propose and find that consumers are more likely to donate their possessions to charity under MS (vs. comparison conditions) when the product is considered highly (vs. not highly) connected to the self. Moreover, we demonstrate that this tendency manifests only when transcendence is attainable through donation. In support of the proposition of transcendence as the underlying mechanism, the observed effects are attenuated under conditions where: (1) transcendence has already been satiated via alternative means or (2) the donated possession will not transcend the self (i.e., its physical integrity is lost by being broken down and recycled). The theoretical and practical implications of the work are discussed.
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Only one paper in the meta-analytic sample included preregistered studies.
“only one paper in our sample included preregistered studies (Dunn et al. 2020).”
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 Dunn et al. 2020
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 Dunn et al., 2020
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 Dunn et al., 2020
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Defending one's worldview under mortality salience: Testing the validity of an established idea
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“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).”
BackgroundThe finitude of life—How mortality salience affects consumer behavior: A review
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Arendsen, J. L., Brugman, B. C., van Koningsbruggen, G. M., & Fransen, M. L. (2025) · International Journal of Consumer Studies · doi:10.1111/ijcs.70056 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“…demonstrated that MS results in increased monetary donations (Cai and Wyer 2015; Jonas et al. 2002), increased intentions to donate possessions (Dunn et al. 2020), sharing more with others (Zaleskiewicz et al. 2015) saving as opposed to spending money (Zaleskiewicz et al. 2013b), and a…”
Influential
- Authors
- Dunn, L., White, K., & Dahl, D. W.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Dunn, Lea
- Venue
- Journal of Consumer Research
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2020-04-22
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 431-453
- ISSN
- 0093-5301 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5277
- OpenAlex
- W3017828742
- Cited by
- 69
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6
- FWCI
- 9.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model (vor)
- Locations
- Journal of Consumer Research (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
- Keywords
- mortality salience, transcendence, donations, self-concept, material possessions, consumer behavior, recycling
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