This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Terror management theory" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(March 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Social and evolutionary psychology theory
Part of a series on
Psychology
Outline
History
Subfields
Basic psychology
Abnormal
Affective neuroscience
Affective science
Behavioral genetics
Behavioral neuroscience
Behaviorism
Cognitive/Cognitivism
Cognitive neuroscience
Social
Comparative
Cross-cultural
Cultural
Developmental
Differential
Ecological
Evolutionary
Experimental
Gestalt
Intelligence
Mathematical
Moral
Neuropsychology
Perception
Personality
Psycholinguistics
Psychophysiology
Quantitative
Social
Theoretical
Applied psychology
Anomalistic
Applied behavior analysis
Assessment
Clinical
Coaching
Community
Consumer
Counseling
Critical
Educational
Ergonomics
Feminist
Forensic
Health
Humanistic
Industrial and organizational
Legal
Media
Medical
Military
Music
Occupational health
Pastoral
Political
Positive
Psychometrics
Psychotherapy
Religion
School
Sport and exercise
Suicidology
Systems
Traffic
Concepts
Behavior
Behavioral engineering
Behavioral genetics
Behavioral neuroscience
Cognition
Competence
Consciousness
Consumer behavior
Emotions
Feelings
Human factors and ergonomics
Intelligence
Mind
Psychology of religion
Psychometrics
Lists
Counseling topics
Disciplines
Organizations
Outline
Psychologists
Psychotherapies
Research methods
Schools of thought
Timeline
Topics
Psychology portal
v
t
e
Terror management theory (TMT) is both a social and evolutionary psychology theory originally proposed by Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon, and Tom Pyszczynski[1] and codified in their book The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life (2015). It proposes that a basic psychological conflict results from having a self-preservation instinct while realizing that death is inevitable and to some extent unpredictable. This conflict produces terror, which is managed through a combination of escapism and cultural beliefs that act to counter biological reality with more significant and enduring forms of meaning and value—-basically countering the personal insignificance represented by death with the significance provided by symbolic culture.[1][2]
The most obvious examples of cultural values that assuage death anxiety are those that purport to offer literal immortality (e.g. belief in the afterlife through religion).[3] However, TMT also argues that other cultural values – including those that are seemingly unrelated to death – offer symbolic immortality. For example, values of national identity,[4] posterity,[5] cultural perspectives on sex,[6] and human superiority over animals[6] have been linked to calming death concerns. In many cases these values are thought to offer symbolic immortality, by either a) providing the sense that one is part of something greater that will ultimately outlive the individual (e.g. country, lineage, species), or b) making one's symbolic identity superior to biological nature (i.e. you are a personality, which makes you more than a glob of cells).[7]
Because cultural values influence what is meaningful, they are foundational for self-esteem. TMT describes self-esteem as being the personal, subjective measure of how well an individual is living up to their cultural values.[2]
Terror management theory was developed by social psychologists Greenberg, Solomon, and Pyszczynski. However, the idea of TMT originated from anthropologist Ernest Becker's 1973 Pulitzer Prize-winning work of nonfiction The Denial of Death. Becker argues most human action is taken to ignore or avoid the inevitability of death.[8] The terror of absolute annihilation creates such a profound – albeit subconscious – anxiety in people that they spend their lives attempting to make sense of it. On large scales, societies build symbols: Laws, religious meanings, cultures, and belief systems to explain the significance of life, define what makes certain characteristics, skills, and talents extraordinary, reward others whom they find exemplify certain attributes, and punish or kill others who do not adhere to their cultural worldview. Adherence to these created "symbols" aid in relieving stresses associated with the reality of mortality.[9] On an individual level, self-esteem provides a buffer against death-related anxiety.
^ abGreenberg, J.; Pyszczynski, T.; Solomon, S. (1986). "The causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem: A terror management theory". In R. F. Baumeister (ed.). Public Self and Private Self. New York: Springer-Verlag. pp. 189–212.
^ abSolomon, S.; Greenberg, J.; Pyszczynski, T. (1991). "A terror management theory of social behavior: The psychological functions of self-esteem and cultural worldviews". Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. 24 (93): 159.
^Jonas, E.; Fischer, P. (2006). "Terror management and religion: evidence that intrinsic religiousness mitigates worldview defense following mortality salience". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 91 (3): 553–567. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.3.553. PMID 16938037. S2CID 45201747.
^Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Zhou, X.; Liu, J.; Chen, C.; Yu, Z. (2008). "Do children transcend death? An examination of the terror management function of offspring". Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 49 (5): 413–418. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.2008.00665.x. PMID 18489534.
^ abGoldenberg, J. L.; Pyszczynski, T.; Greenberg, J.; Solomon, S. (2000). "Fleeing the body: A terror management perspective on the problem of human corporeality". Personality and Social Psychology Review. 4 (3): 200–218. doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0403_1. S2CID 31331978.
^Solomon, S.; Pyszczynski, T.; Greenberg, J. (2015). The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life. Random House.
^"Terror Management Theory – Ernest Becker Foundation". ernestbecker.org. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
^Arrowood, Robert B.; Pope, J. Brian (2014). "Terror management theory: A theoretical perspective on origination, maintenance, and research".
and 28 Related for: Terror management theory information
Terrormanagementtheory (TMT) is both a social and evolutionary psychology theory originally proposed by Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon, and Tom Pyszczynski...
transcendence beyond the concept of death. Corresponding to the terrormanagementtheory, the Scrooge effect proposes that existential apprehension can...
awareness that one's death is inevitable. The term derives from terrormanagementtheory, which proposes the so-called mortality salience hypothesis: mortality...
Bronislaw Malinowski developed what is called "terrormanagementtheory". According to terrormanagementtheory, humans are aware of their own mortality which...
that depression itself has any evolutionary benefit. According to terrormanagementtheory (TMT) neuroticism is primarily caused by insufficient anxiety buffers...
blocks", its origins and construction. A worldview, according to terrormanagementtheory (TMT), serves as a buffer against death anxiety. It is theorized...
describes self-preservation and processing of fear is terrormanagementtheory. Protection motivation theory was developed by R.W. Rogers in 1975 in order to...
Greenberg, & Solomon, the dual process model, in relation to terrormanagementtheory, identifies two systems by which the brain manages fear of death:...
death. It is the main work responsible for the development of terrormanagementtheory, which provides empirical support for Becker's ideas. Preface Chapter...
significant impact on social psychology and the psychology of religion. Terrormanagementtheory, an important research programme in social psychology that has...
Solomon is best known for developing terrormanagementtheory, along with Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski. This theory is concerned with how humans deal...
systems are legitimate and just. Terrormanagementtheory – suggests that human mortality causes existential dread and terror, and that much of human behavior...
Since then, this theory has been widely researched and has since connected to other psychological theories such as terrormanagementtheory. According to...
beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time." Terrormanagementtheory posits that culture is a series of activities and worldviews that...
have disputed the universality of the phenomenon. According to TerrorManagementTheory, the child's allegiance to parental authority and worldviews can...
or saliency may refer to: Mortality salience, a product of the terrormanagementtheory in social psychology Motivational salience, a motivational "wanting"...
to the similarity between Zapffe's philosophy and terrormanagementtheory. Terrormanagementtheory argues that humans are equipped with unique cognitive...
aware Mortality salience Sic transit gloria mundi Tempus fugit Terrormanagementtheory Ubi sunt Vanitas YOLO (aphorism) Campbell, Lorne. Van der Weyden...
movement in German literature and music Terrormanagementtheory – Social and evolutionary psychology theory Weltschmerz – German word for deep sadness...
Greenberg and Sheldon Solomon, for founding the field of TerrorManagementTheory (TMT). TMT is a theory that is based on the writings of Ernest Becker, along...
existentialist psychology and shares many of the fundamental tenets. Terrormanagementtheory, based on the writings of Ernest Becker and Otto Rank, is a developing...
Tandem mass tag, a chemical label Temporal motivation theory, in psychology Terrormanagementtheory, in psychology Thermo-mechanical treatment, a metallurgical...
indicating his efforts to regress to a prepubescent state.[4] TerrorManagementTheory is believed to be a potential explanation for gerascophobia [5]...
psychologists, who conduct research in support of what they call terrormanagementtheory (terror in this case not being terrorism, but rather emotional and...
Splitting (psychology) Stockholm syndrome Techniques of neutralization Terrormanagementtheory Thought disorder The Emperor's New Clothes Traumatic bonding True-believer...
and offers an occasion to look back on life. According to the terrormanagementtheory, this causes stress which can accelerate death. The uneven mortality...
health-promoting behaviors. Researchers analyzed the data by using the terrormanagementtheory and found that age had no direct effect on specific behaviors....