Terrorism, Violence, and Hope for Peace: A Terror Management Perspective
Abstract
Terror management theory (TMT) is used to explore psychological forces that act to promote or discourage support for terrorism and violent counterterrorist policies. According to TMT, domination, humiliation, and perceived injustice threaten the self-esteem and cultural worldviews that protect people from death-related anxiety; the result may be hostility and violence directed against the threatening out-group as a way of defusing this threat. We review research documenting the role of terror management processes in promoting and discouraging support for terrorism and violent counterterrorist policies and discuss the implications of this research. The studies we review suggest that the same psychological forces that promote support for terrorist violence also promote support for aggressive counterterrorist policies and that these forces can be redirected to encourage support for more peaceful solutions on both sides of the current conflict between Islamic radical groups and Western nations.
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TMT research has revealed that caustic intergroup hostilities often arise in response to MS.
“TMT research has revealed that caustic intergroup hostilities often arise in response to MS (e.g., Pyszczynski et al., 2006; see Pyszczynski, Rothschild, & Abdollahi, 2008).”
From When Death is Good for Life: Considering the Positive Trajectories of Terror Management (2012) · cites this paper as Pyszczynski, Rothschild, & Abdollahi, 2008
Cites
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When Death is Good for Life: Considering the Positive Trajectories of Terror Management
Vail, K. E., Juhl, J., Arndt, J., Vess, M., Routledge, C., & Rutjens, B. T. (2012) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868312440046 · Cited by 210 · see citing works
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“, 2011), both theories originated in an effort to explain social psychological defense mechanisms in response to a threat which heightens needs to defend and justify the worldview against the threat (Jost et al., 2004; Landau et al., 2009; Pyszczynski et al., 2008).”
BackgroundAn Appreciative View of the Brighter Side of Terror Management Processes
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“Much research has revealed the dark side of death awareness; TMT can explain the motivational issues underlying the “dark side” of social psychological phenomena [2,144].”
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Terror in time: extending culturomics to address basic terror management mechanisms
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Gravelle, C. D., Brooks, P. J., & Sawyer, J. E. (2025) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.104746 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Pyszczynski, T., Rothschild, Z., & Abdollahi, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Colorado Colorado Springs (US)
- Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman (IR)
- Corresponding author
- Pyszczynski, Tom
- Venue
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2008-10
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 318-322
- ISSN
- 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8721
- OpenAlex
- W2017547438
- Cited by
- 77
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 4.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- terror management theory, terrorism, counterterrorism policy, fear of death, self-esteem, perceived injustice, outgroup hostility, peaceful conflict resolution, Western countries
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