Asch, S. E.. (1956). Studies of independence and conformity: I. A minority of one against a unanimous majority.. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied
“The investigations described in this series are concerned with the conditions of independence and lack of independence in the face of group pressure. the abstract temper of present-day theory and investigation in this region rests to a considerable degree on a neglect of the cognitive and emotional experiences that are part of the individual’s psychological field. the understanding of social influences will require the study of a wide range of conditions and of the interrelated operations of different psychological functions. a group of seven to nine individuals was gathered in a classroom to take part in what appeared to be a simple experiment in visual discrimination. the subjects were all male, white college students, ranging in age from 17 to 25; the mean age was 20. for certain purposes a large number of critical subjects was required for the present experiment. the present report is based on a total of 123 subjects. the task consisted of the comparison of a standard line with three other lines, one of which was equal in length to the standard. we investigated some of the conditions responsible for independence and lack of independence in the face of arbitrary group pressure. to this end we produced a disagreement between a group and one individual member about a clear and simple issue of fact. the interview, which followed the experimental session, provided qualitative evidence concerning the effects produced by the majority, the particular properties of the experimental situation and their relation to more usual social contradictions were described. (psycinfo database record (c) 2012 apa, all rights reserved)”
Baron, R. S., Vandello, J. A., & Brunsman, B.. (1996). The Forgotten Variable in Conformity Research: Impact of Task Importance on Social Influence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“Two studies examined how incentives for accuracy (task importance) affected the social influence of inaccurate confederates in a modified asch situation (s. e. asch, 1951). not unexpectedly, when task difficulty was low, incentives for accuracy reduced the social impact of (inaccurate) confederates (study 1). however, when task difficulty was increased, the reverse was true, with individuals conforming more to an inaccurate confederate norm when incentives for accuracy were high (studies 1 and 2). the results are discussed in terms of possible mediating mechanisms and also in terms of their historical and pragmatic implications.”
Kundu, P., & Cummins, D. D.. (2013). Morality and conformity: The Asch paradigm applied to moral decisions. Social Influence
“Morality has long been considered an inherent quality, an internal moral compass that is unswayed by the actions of those around us. the solomon asch paradigm was employed to gauge whether moral decision making is subject to conformity under social pressure as other types of decision making have been shown to be. participants made decisions about moral dilemmas either alone or in a group of confederates posing as peers. on a majority of trials confederates rendered decisions that were contrary to judgments typically elicited by the dilemmas. the results showed a pronounced effect of conformity: compared to the control condition, permissible actions were deemed less permissible when confederates found them objectionable, and impermissible actions were judged more permissible if confederates judged them so.”
Walker, M. B., & Andrade, M. G.. (1996). Conformity in the asch task as a function of age. Journal of Social Psychology
“The social conformity paradigm of asch (1956) was replicated to investigate the relationship between age and conformist behavior. one hundred ten australian school children and adolescents between 3 and 17 years of age participated in the study. each participant was placed in the position of being a minority of 1 against a wrong but unanimous majority of 3. the results indicate that conformity decreases with age in perceptually unambiguous tasks. conflicting evidence from earlier studies can be attributed to task ambiguity in those studies.”
Cinnirella, M., & Green, B.. (2007). Does “cyber-conformity” vary cross-culturally? Exploring the effect of culture and communication medium on social conformity. Computers in Human Behavior
“The article focuses on a study in which the effect of centrality in social networks is determined. it states that in a social network centrality has effect on a conformity named asch-type conformity. it mentions that respect social network data and friendship affinity data was collected for two different groups of actors. it informs that central actors are not interested in conforming whereas peripheral actors willing to conform which was expected in asch-type conformity.”
Gerard, H. B., Wilhelmy, R. A., & Conolley, E. S.. (1968). Conformity and group size.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“Asch (1951) found a curvilinear relationship between majority size and conformity such that conformity increased with increases in group size up to a majority of 3 and then leveled off. it was hypothesized here that this effect was due to a perceived contingency of the choices of the others and that if perceived contingency were eliminated, conformity would be a linear function of group size. the procedure in 1 treatment was designed to induce perceived contingency in the others’ choices, that is, that they were following the leader, whereas in the other treatment an attempt was made to induce the perception that the others were responding independently of one another. the data indicate a linear trend under both perceived contingency and perceived independence.”
Rosenberg, L.. (1961). Group size, prior experience, and conformity. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
“An effort was made to validate the findings of 2 previous workers regarding the effect of the size of a group (asch, 1952) and prior experience (mausner, 1953, 1954, 1957) upon conformity in the judgment of the length of lines. the results of asch and mausner were reproduced; there is a curvilinear relationship between size of a group (from 2 to 5) and influence on s to conform to what he believes are the estimates of the lines made by others. prior experience in making judgments of the lines was also found to influence the accuracy of judgment. (psycinfo database record (c) 2012 apa, all rights reserved)”
Ostracism (Greek: ὀστρακισμός, ostrakismos) was a procedure under the Athenian democracy in which any citizen could be expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years. While some instances clearly expressed popular anger at the citizen, ostracism was often used preemptively. It was used as a way of neutralizing someone thought to be a threat to the state or potential tyrant. It has been called an “honourable exile” by scholar P. J. Rhodes.[1] The word “ostracism” continues to be used for various cases of social shunning.
Whitehead, D.. (2003). Ostracism. The Classical Review
“In this review, i examine the social psychological research on os- tracism, social exclusion, and rejection. being ignored, excluded, and/or rejected signals a threat for which reflexive detection in the form of pain and distress is adaptive for survival. brief ostracism episodes result in sadness and anger and threaten fundamental needs. individuals then act to fortify or replenish their thwarted need or needs. behavioral consequences appear to be split into two gen- eral categories: attempts to fortify relational needs (belonging, self- esteem, shared understanding, and trust), which lead generally to prosocial thoughts and behaviors, or attempts to fortify efficacy/ existence needs of control and recognition that may be dealt with most efficiently through antisocial thoughts and behaviors. avail- able research on chronic exposure to ostracism appears to deplete coping resources, resulting in depression and helplessness.”
Williams, K. D., & Nida, S. A.. (2011). Ostracism: Consequences and coping. Current Directions in Psychological Science
“Ostracism means being ignored and excluded by one or more others. despite the absence of verbal derogation and physical assault, ostracism is painful: it threatens psychological needs (belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence); and it unleashes a variety of physiological, affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses. here we review the empirical literature on ostracism within the framework of the temporal need-threat model.”
Robinson, S. L., O’Reilly, J., & Wang, W.. (2013). Invisible at Work: An Integrated Model of Workplace Ostracism. Journal of Management
“This article offers a review, integration, and extension of the literature relevant to ostracism in organizations. we first seek to add conceptual clarity to ostracism, by reviewing existing definitions and developing a cohesive one, identifying the key features of workplace ostracism, and distinguishing it from existing organizational constructs. next, we develop a broad model of ostracism in organizations. this model serves to integrate the relevant findings related to ostracism in organizations and to extend our theorizing about it. we take a decidedly organizational focus, proposing organizationally relevant factors that may cause different types of ostracism, moderate the experience of ostracism at work, and moderate the reactions of targets. we hope this article will provide a good foundation for organizational scholars interested in studying ostracism by providing a framework of prior literature and directions for future study.”
Zadro, L., Williams, K. D., & Richardson, R.. (2004). How low can you go? Ostracism by a computer is sufficient to lower self-reported levels of belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Sebastian, C., Viding, E., Williams, K. D., & Blakemore, S. J.. (2010). Social brain development and the affective consequences of ostracism in adolescence. Brain and Cognition
Ferris, D. L., Brown, D. J., Berry, J. W., & Lian, H.. (2008). The Development and Validation of the Workplace Ostracism Scale. Journal of Applied Psychology
“This article outlines the development of a 10-item measure of workplace ostracism. using 6 samples (including multisource and multiwave data), the authors developed a reliable scale with a unidimensional factor structure that replicated across 4 separate samples. the scale possessed both convergent and discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity was demonstrated through the scale’s relation with basic needs, well-being, job attitudes, job performance, and withdrawal. overall, the present study suggests that the workplace ostracism scale is a reliable and valid measure and that the workplace ostracism construct has important implications for both individuals and organizations.”
Williams, K. D., Cheung, C. K. T., & Choi, W.. (2000). Cyberostracism: Effects of being ignored over the internet. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“Ostracism is such a widely used and powerful tactic that the authors tested whether people would be affected by it even under remote and artificial circumstances. in study 1, 1,486 participants from 62 countries accessed the authors’ on-line experiment on the internet. they were asked to use mental visualization while playing a virtual tossing game with two others (who were actually computer generated and controlled). despite the minimal nature of their experience, the more participants were ostracized, the more they reported feeling bad, having less control, and losing a sense of belonging. in study 2, ostracized participants were more likely to conform on a subsequent task. the results are discussed in terms of supporting k. d. williams’s (1997) need threat theory of ostracism.”
Zadro, L., Boland, C., & Richardson, R.. (2006). How long does it last? The persistence of the effects of ostracism in the socially anxious. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Hartgerink, C. H. J., Van Beest, I., Wicherts, J. M., & Williams, K. D.. (2015). The ordinal effects of ostracism: A meta-analysis of 120 cyberball studies. PLoS ONE
“We examined 120 cyberball studies (n = 11,869) to determine the effect size of ostracism and conditions under which the effect may be reversed, eliminated, or small. our analyses showed that (1) the average ostracism effect is large (d > |1.4|) and (2) generalizes across structural aspects (number of players, ostracism duration, number of tosses, type of needs scale), sampling aspects (gender, age, country), and types of dependent measure (interpersonal, intrapersonal, fundamental needs). further, we test williams’s (2009) proposition that the immediate impact of ostracism is resistant to moderation, but that moderation is more likely to be observed in delayed measures. our findings suggest that (3) both first and last measures are susceptible to moderation and (4) time passed since being ostracized does not predict effect sizes of the last measure. thus, support for this proposition is tenuous and we suggest modifications to the temporal need-threat model of ostracism.”
Wesselmann, E. D., Bagg, D., & Williams, K. D.. (2009). “I Feel Your Pain”: The effects of observing ostracism on the ostracism detection system. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Warburton, W. A., Williams, K. D., & Cairns, D. R.. (2006). When ostracism leads to aggression: The moderating effects of control deprivation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Wolf, W., Levordashka, A., Ruff, J. R., Kraaijeveld, S., Lueckmann, J. M., & Williams, K. D.. (2015). Ostracism Online: A social media ostracism paradigm. Behavior Research Methods
“We describe ostracism online, a novel, social media-based ostracism paradigm designed to (1) keep social interaction experimentally controlled, (2) provide researchers with the flexibility to manipulate the properties of the social situation to fit their research purposes, (3) be suitable for online data collection, (4) be convenient for studying subsequent within-group behavior, and (5) be ecologically valid. after collecting data online, we compared the ostracism online paradigm with the cyberball paradigm (williams & jarvis behavior research methods, 38, 174-180, 2006) on need-threat and mood questionnaire scores (van beest & williams journal of personality and social psychology 91, 918-928, 2006). we also examined whether ostracized targets of either paradigm would be more likely to conform to their group members than if they had been included. using a bayesian analysis of variance to examine the individual effects of the different paradigms and to compare these effects across paradigms, we found analogous effects on need-threat and mood. perhaps because we examined conformity to the ostracizers (rather than neutral sources), neither paradigm showed effects of ostracism on conformity. we conclude that ostracism online is a cost-effective, easy to use, and ecologically valid research tool for studying the psychological and behavioral effects of ostracism.”
Hawkley, L. C., Williams, K. D., & Cacioppo, J. T.. (2011). Responses to ostracism across adulthood. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
“Ostracism is ubiquitous across the lifespan. from social exclusion on the playground, to romantic rejection, to workplace expulsion, to social disregard for the aged, ostracism threatens a fundamental human need to belong that reflexively elicits social pain and sadness. older adults may be particularly vulnerable to ostracism because of loss of network members and meaningful societal roles. on the other hand, socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that older adults may be less impacted by ostracism because of an age-related positivity bias. we examined these hypotheses in two independent studies, and tested mechanisms that may account for age differences in the affective experience of ostracism. a study of 18- to 86-year-old participants in the time-sharing experiments for the social sciences program showed an age-related decrease in the impact of ostracism on needs satisfaction and negative affectivity. a study of 53- to 71-year-old participants in the chicago health, aging, and social relations study (chasrs) showed that ostracism diminished positive affectivity in younger (<60 years) but not older adults. age group differences in response to ostracism were consistent with the positivity bias hypothesis, were partly explained by age differences in the impact of physical pain, but were not explained by autonomic nervous system activity, computer experience, or intimate social loss or stressful life experiences.”
Carter-Sowell, A. R., Chen, Z., & Williams, K. D.. (2008). Ostracism increases social susceptibility. Social Influence
“Ostracism, the act of ignoring and excluding, is a universally applied tactic of social control. individuals who detect ostracism often change their behaviors to be readmitted into the group, even if it means becoming excessively socially susceptible to influence. we tested whether ostracized individuals are more socially susceptible to a subsequent influence attempt. in this study, 65 undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 2 (inclusion or ostracism)?3 (compliance tactic: foot?in?the door, target request only, door?in?the?face) between?participants design. the participants played cyberball and were either included or ostracized, and then they were approached with a request to donate money. despite no differences between the three tactics, ostracism increased compliance across all request types. our discussion focuses on the implications for ostracism?induced social susceptibility. this material is based on work supported by the national science foundation under grant no. 0519209 awarded to the third author. we would like to thank janice kelly for her comments, and jessica bartman, katherine lang, patrick o’brien, vista ritchie, and kirsten zeiser for their excellent acting skills as confederates. ostracism, the act of ignoring and excluding, is a universally applied tactic of social control. individuals who detect ostracism often change their behaviors to be readmitted into the group, even if it means becoming excessively socially susceptible to influence. we tested whether ostracized individuals are more socially susceptible to a subsequent influence attempt. in this study, 65 undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 2 (inclusion or ostracism)?3 (compliance tactic: foot?in?the door, target request only, door?in?the?face) between?participants design. the participants played cyberball and were either included or ostracized, and then they were approached with a request to donate money. despite no differences between the three tactics, ostracism increased compliance across all request types. our discussion focuses on the implications for ostracism?induced social susceptibility. this material is based on work supported by the national science foundation under grant no.0519209 awarded to the third author. we would like to thank janice kelly for her comments, and jessica bartman, katherine lang, patrick o’brien, vista ritchie, and kirsten zeiser for their excellent acting skills as confederates.”
Nezlek, J. B., Wesselmann, E. D., Wheeler, L., & Williams, K. D.. (2012). Ostracism in everyday life. Group Dynamics
“Ostracism is a negative interpersonal experience that has been studied primarily in laboratory settings in which people have been ostracized by strangers and the motives for being ostracized have been ambiguous. this study extended this research by investigating ostracism as it occurs in daily life, focusing on people’s reflective reactions to being ostracized in their daily lives and on the nature of the ostracism they experience. for 2 weeks, 40 participants (adults residing in the community) described what happened each time they felt ostracized using a diary method modeled after the rochester interaction record (rir; wheeler & nezlek, 1977). the questions in the diary were based on williams’s (2007) need-threat model of ostracism. most ostracism episodes were from persons of equal status, and participants reported lower levels of belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence after being ostracized. participants’ needs were threatened more when friends or close others had ostracized them than when they had been ostracized by acquaintance and strangers, and they reacted more negatively to punitive, defensive, and oblivious ostracism as opposed to role based or ambiguous ostracism. this research suggests that the reflective effects of ostracism can vary as a function of who ostracizes someone and why people feel they have been ostracized.”
Balliet, D., & Ferris, D. L.. (2013). Ostracism and prosocial behavior: A social dilemma perspective. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
Goodwin, S. A., Williams, K. D., & Carter-Sowell, A. R.. (2010). The psychological sting of stigma: The costs of attributing ostracism to racism. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Williams, K. D., & Sommer, K. L.. (1997). Social ostracism by coworkers: Does rejection lead to loafing or compensation?. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
“A new theoretical model and research paradigm are introduced to investigate the phenomenon of social ostracism-being ignored by others who are in one’s presence. the authors examined the effects of social ostracism on individuals’ subsequent contributions to a group task. social loafing optically occurs on collective tasks. however; to regain their sense of belonging to the group, the authors expected ostracized individuals to socially compensate-to work harder collectively than coactively. participants were asked to generate as many uses as they could for an object, either coactively or collectively with two others who had either ostracized or included them in an earlier ball-tossing exchange. ostracized females socially compensated, whereas nonostracized females neither loafed nor compensated. ostracized and nonostracized males socially loafed. based on these data and the accompanying attributional and nonverbal analyses, the authors surmised that males and females interpret and respond to social ostracism differently.”
In social psychology, terror management theory (abbr. TMT) proposes a basic psychological conflict that results from having a self-preservation instinct, whilst realizing that death is inevitable and to some extent unpredictable. Researchers in the field of “experimental existential psychology” (XXP) investigate the effects of, for example, mortality salience on various social, emotional, cognitive, and physiological processes. More at Wikipedia
Further References
Greenberg, J., & Arndt, J.. (2012). Terror management theory. In Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology: Volume 1
“Terror management theory was developed to explain the motivational underpinnings of phenomena such as self-esteem defense and prejudice. the theory is rooted in a long tradition of thought regarding human awareness of death and its role in psychological functioning. the theory posits that to manage the potential for terror engendered by the awareness of mortaility, humans sustain faith in worldviews which provide a sense that they are significant beings in an enduring, meaningful world rather than mere material animals fated only to obliteration upon death. the theory is supported by a wide range of studies showing that self-esteem and worldviews provide protection against anxiety and death-related cognition, reminders of mortality instigate worldview bolstering and self-esteem striving, and the threats to the worldview and self-esteem increase the accessibility of death-related thoughts. the research has also led to a dual defense model of responses to concious and unconcious death thoughts. we then focus on two of many topics informed by the theory; attitudes and behavior regarding physical health, an political preferences and intergroup conflict. we then consider factors that mitigate destructive forms of terror management. finally, we briefly summarize the contribution of terror management work so far and where it’s heading.”
Harmon-Jones, E., Simon, L., Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., Pyszczynski, T., & McGregor, H.. (1997). Terror Management Theory and Self-Esteem: Evidence That Increased Self-Esteem Reduces Mortality Salience Effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“On the basis of the terror management theory proposition that self-esteem provides protection against concerns about mortality, it was hypothesized that self-esteem would reduce the worldview defense produced by mortality salience (ms). the results of experiments 1 and 2 confirmed this hypothesis by showing that individuals with high self-esteem (manipulated in experiment 1; dispositional in experiment 2) did not respond to ms with increased worldview defense, whereas individuals with moderate self-esteem did. the results of experiment 3 suggested that the effects of the first 2 experiments may have occurred because high self-esteem facilitates the suppression of death con-structs following ms. the questions of why individuals need self-esteem and how they cope with their awareness of death are challenging ones that have fascinated and puzzled philosophers and social theo-rists (e.g., plato, kierkegaard, norman brown, william james) for centuries. terror management theory, based primarily on the writings of ernest becker (1962, 1971, 1973, 1975) and otto rank (1936, 1941), posits that self-esteem is sought because it provides protection against the fear of death (greenberg, pysz-czynski, & solomon, 1986; solomon, greenberg, & pyszczyn-ski, 1991a). from this perspective, the fear of death is rooted in an instinct for self-preservation that humans share with other species. although we share this instinct with other species, only we are aware that death is inevitable–that is, that our self-preservation instinct will inevitably be thwarted. this combina-tion of an instinctive drive for self-preservation with an aware-ness of the inevitability of death creates the potential for paralyz-ing terror. this potential for terror is managed by a cultural anxiety buffer, consisting of the cultural worldview and self-esteem. the cultural worldview is defined as a set of beliefs about the nature”
Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., & Pyszczynski, T.. (1997). Terror Management Theory of Self-Esteem and Cultural Worldviews: Empirical Assessments and Conceptual Refinements. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology
“This chapter proposes that the potential for abject terror created by the awareness of the inevitability of death in an animal instinctively programmed for self-preservation and continued experience lies at the root of a great deal of human motivation and behavior. this chapter presents the results of a substantial body of research that attests to the broad influence of the problem of death on human social behavior and illuminates the processes through which concerns about mortality exert their influence. the chapter overviews the primary assumptions and propositions of terror management theory and a description of the initial research conducted to test the theory. it presents a detailed consideration of more recent research that establishes the convergent and discriminant validity of the mortality salience treatment and the robustness of its effects through the use of alternative mortality salience treatments and comparison treatments, and replications by other researchers; it extends the range of interpersonal behaviors that are demonstrably influenced by terror management concerns. moreover, it demonstrates the interaction of mortality salience with other theoretically relevant situational and dispositional variables, and provides an account of the cognitive processes through which mortality salience produces its effects. finally, this chapter discusses the relation of terror management motives to other psychological motives and gives a consideration of issues requiring further investigation.”
Burke, B. L., Martens, A., & Faucher, E. H.. (2010). Two decades of terror management theory: A meta-analysis of mortality salience research. Personality and Social Psychology Review
“A meta-analysis was conducted on empirical trials investigating the mortality salience (ms) hypothesis of terror management theory (tmt). tmt postulates that investment in cultural worldviews and self-esteem serves to buffer the potential for death anxiety; the ms hypothesis states that, as a consequence, accessibility of death-related thought (ms) should instigate increased worldview and self-esteem defense and striving. overall, 164 articles with 277 experiments were included. ms yielded moderate effects (r =.35) on a range of worldview- and self-esteem-related dependent variables (dvs), with effects increased for experiments using (a) american participants,(b) college students,(c) a longer delay between ms and the dv,and (d) people-related attitudes as the dv. gender and self-esteem may moderate ms effects differently than previously thought. results are compared to other reviews and examined with regard to alternative explanations of tmt. finally, suggestions for future research are offered.”
Simon, L., Greenberg, J., Harmon-Jones, E., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., Arndt, J., & Abend, T.. (1997). Terror management and cognitive-experiential self-theory: Evidence that terror management occurs in the experiential system. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“The authors hypothesized, on the basis of terror management theory and cognitive-experiential self-theory, that participants in an experiential mode of thinking would respond to mortality salience with increased worldview defense and increased accessibility of death-related thoughts, whereas participants in a rational mode would not. results from 3 studies provided convergent evidence that when participants were in an experiential mode, mortality salience produced the typical worldview defense effect, but when participants were in a rational mode it did not. study 4 revealed that mortality salience also led to a delayed increase in the accessibility of death-related thoughts only when participants were in an experiential mode. these results supported the notion that worldwide defense is intensified only if individuals are in an experiential mode when considering their mortality. discussion focuses on implications for understanding terror management processes.”
Castano, E., Yzerbyt, V., Paladino, M. P., & Sacchi, S.. (2002). I belong, therefore, I exist: Ingroup identification, ingroup entitativity, and ingroup bias. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
“Merging insights from the intergroup relations literature and terror management theory, the authors conducted an experiment in which they assessed the impact of death-related thoughts on a series of ingroup measures. participants in the mortality salience condition displayed stronger ingroup identification, perceived greater ingroup entitativily, and scored higher on ingroup bias measures. also, perceived ingroup entitativily as well as ingroup identification mediated the effect of the mortality salience manipulation on ingroup bias. the findings are discussed in relation to theories of intergroup relations and terror management theory. a new perspective on the function of group belonging also is presented.”
Vail, K. E., Rothschild, Z. K., Weise, D. R., Solomon, S., Pyszczynski, T., & Greenberg, J.. (2010). A terror management analysis of the psychological functions of religion. Personality and Social Psychology Review
“From a terror management theory (tmt) perspective, religion serves to manage the potential terror engendered by the uniquely human awareness of death by affording a sense of psychological security and hope of immortality. although secular beliefs can also serve a terror management function, religious beliefs are particularly well suited to mitigate death anxiety because they are all encompassing, rely on concepts that are not easily disconfirmed, and promise literal immortality. research is reviewed demonstrating that mortality salience produces increased belief in afterlife, supernatural agency, human ascension from nature, and spiritual distinctions between mind and body. the social costs and benefits of religious beliefs are considered and compared to those of secular worldviews. the terror management functions of, and benefits and costs associated with, different types of religious orientation, such as intrinsic religiosity, quest, and religious fundamentalism, are then examined. finally, the tmt analysis is compared to other accounts of religion.”
Cohen, F., & Solomon, S.. (2011). The politics of mortal terror. Current Directions in Psychological Science
“Terror-management theory is used to examine how political preferences are altered when existential concerns are aroused. the theory posits that the uniquely human awareness of death engenders potentially debilitating terror that is managed through devotion to cultural worldviews that give individuals a sense that life has meaning and that they have value. research shows that mortality salience increases adherence to cherished cultural values and instigates efforts to bolster self-esteem. here we review research documenting the role of terror-management processes in promoting support for charismatic leaders who share one’s cherished beliefs and aggression against those who hold rival beliefs. implications for fostering effective participatory democracy are considered.”
Martens, A., Goldenberg, J. L., & Greenberg, J.. (2005). A terror management perspective on ageism. Journal of Social Issues
“In the present article, we present a theoretical perspective on ageism that is derived from terror management theory. according to the theory, human beings manage deeply-rooted fears about their vulnerability to death through symbolic constructions of meaning and corresponding standards of value. we extend this perspective to suggest that elderly individuals present an existential threat for the non-elderly because they remind us all that: (a) death is inescapable, (b) the body is fallible, and (c) the bases by which we may secure self-esteem (and manage death anxiety) are transitory. we review some recent empirical evidence in support of these ideas and then discuss possible avenues for combating ageism.”
Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., & Greenberg, J.. (2015). Thirty Years of Terror Management Theory: From Genesis to Revelation. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology
“Terror management theory posits that human awareness of the inevitability of death exerts a profound influence on diverse aspects of human thought, emotion, motivation, and behavior. people manage the potential for anxiety that results from this awareness by maintaining: (1) faith in the absolute validity of their cultural worldviews and (2) self-esteem by living up to the standards of value that are part of their worldviews. in this chapter, we take stock of the past 30 years of research and conceptual development inspired by this theory. after a brief review of evidence supporting the theory’s fundamental propositions, we discuss extensions of the theory to shed light on: (1) the psychological mechanisms through which thoughts of death affect subsequent thought and behavior; (2) how the anxiety-buffering systems develop over childhood and beyond; (3) how awareness of death influenced the evolution of mind, culture, morality, and religion; (4) how death concerns lead people to distance from their physical bodies and seek solace in concepts of mind and spirit; and (5) the role of death concerns in maladaptive and pathological behavior. we also consider various criticisms of the theory and alternative conceptualizations that have been proposed. we conclude with a discussion of what we view as the most pressing issues for further research and theory development that have been inspired by the theory’s first 30 years.”
Heine, S. J., Harihara, M., & Niiya, Y.. (2002). Terror management in Japan. Asian Journal of Social Psychology
“Do terror management effects generalize to non-western cultures? this question is significant because terror management theory offers an explanation of the origin of self-esteem, whereas other research finds divergent self-esteem motivations across cultures. the effects of mortality salience (ms) on the dual-component anxiety buffer were investigated in japan. a control group and a ms group were given an opportunity: (i) to defend their cultural worldview by derogating an anti-japan essay writer; and (ii) to boost their value within their cultures by indicating a greater desire for high-status over low-status products. replicating past research with western samples, japanese in a ms condition were more critical of the anti-japan essay writer and they indicated a marginal tendency to prefer high- over low-status products, compared with a control group. the theoretical implications are discussed.”
Jonas, E., Martens, A., Kayser, D. N., Fritsche, I., Sullivan, D., & Greenberg, J.. (2008). Focus Theory of Normative Conduct and Terror-Management Theory: The Interactive Impact of Mortality Salience and Norm Salience on Social Judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“Research on terror-management theory has shown that after mortality salience (ms) people attempt to live up to cultural values. but cultures often value very different and sometimes even contradictory standards, leading to difficulties in predicting behavior as a consequence of terror-management needs. the authors report 4 studies to demonstrate that the effect of ms on people’s social judgments depends on the salience of norms. in study 1, making salient opposite norms (prosocial vs. proself) led to reactions consistent with the activated norms following ms compared with the control condition. study 2 showed that, in combination with a pacifism prime, ms increased pacifistic attitudes. in study 3, making salient a conservatism/security prime led people to recommend harsher bonds for an illegal prostitute when they were reminded of death, whereas a benevolence prime counteracted this effect. in study 4 a help prime, combined with ms, increased people’s helpfulness. discussion focuses briefly on how these findings inform both terror-management theory and the focus theory of normative conduct.”
Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., Arndt, J., & Schimel, J.. (2004). Why do people need self-esteem? A theoretical and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin
“Terror management theory (tmt; j. greenberg, t. pyszczynski, & s. solomon, 1986) posits that people are motivated to pursue positive self-evaluations because self-esteem provides a buffer against the omnipresent potential for anxiety engendered by the uniquely human awareness of mortality. empirical evidence relevant to the theory is reviewed showing that high levels of self-esteem reduce anxiety and anxiety-related defensive behavior, reminders of one’s mortality increase self-esteem striving and defense of self-esteem against threats in a variety of domains, high levels of self-esteem eliminate the effect of reminders of mortality on both self-esteem striving and the accessibility of death-related thoughts, and convincing people of the existence of an afterlife eliminates the effect of mortality salience on self-esteem striving. tmt is compared with other explanations for why people need self-esteem, and a critique of the most prominent of these, sociometer theory, is provided.”
Solomon, 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
Greenberg, J., & Kosloff, S.. (2008). Terror Management Theory: Implications for Understanding Prejudice, Stereotyping, Intergroup Conflict, and Political Attitudes. Social and Personality Psychology Compass
“Terror management theory posits that to maintain psychological security despite the awareness of personal mortality, humans must maintain faith in cultural worldviews. these worldviews provide ways for humans to believe they are significant enduring beings in a world of meaning rather than mere animals fated only to obliteration upon death. we review basic support for terror management theory and research exploring the implications of terror management theory for understanding prejudice, stereo- typing, intergroup conflict, and political attitudes. this research shows that when the psychological need to defend these worldviews is heightened by reminders of death (mortality salience), prejudice, stereotyping, and support for charismatic leaders and aggression against outgroups is increased. terror management concerns also lead targets of prejudice to disidentify with their ingroup and confirm negative stereotypes of their group. we conclude by considering the implications of terror management theory and research for the alleviation of prejudice and intergroup conflict.”
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., & Solomon, S.. (1986). The Causes and Consequences of a Need for Self-Esteem: A Terror Management Theory. In Public Self and Private Self
“Four selves, two motives, and a substitute process self-regulation model”
Landau, M. J., Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., Cohen, F., Pyszczynski, T., Arndt, J., … Cook, A.. (2004). Deliver us from evil: The effects of mortality salience and reminders of 9/11 on support for President George W. Bush. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
“According to terror management theory, heightened concerns about mortality should intensify the appeal of charismatic lead- ers. to assess this idea, we investigated how thoughts about death and the 9/11 terrorist attacks influence americans’ atti- tudes toward current u.s. president george w. bush. study 1 found that reminding people of their own mortality (mortality salience) increased support for bush and his counterterrorism policies. study 2 demonstrated that subliminal exposure to 9/ 11-related stimuli brought death-related thoughts closer to con- sciousness. study 3 showed that reminders of both mortality and 9/11 increased support for bush. in study 4, mortality salience led participants to become more favorable toward bush and vot- ing for him in the upcoming election but less favorable toward presidential candidate john kerry and voting for him. discus- sion focused on the role of terror management processes in allegiance to charismatic leaders and political decision making.”
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
“Terror management theory suggests that people cope with awareness of death by investing in some kind of literal or symbolic immortality. given the centrality of death transcendence beliefs in most religions, the authors hypothesized that religious beliefs play a protective role in managing terror of death. the authors report three studies suggesting that affirming intrinsic religiousness reduces both death-thought accessibility following mortality salience and the use of terror management defenses with regard to a secular belief system. study 1 showed that after a naturally occurring reminder of mortality, people who scored high on intrinsic religiousness did not react with worldview defense, whereas people low on intrinsic religiousness did. study 2 specified that intrinsic religious belief mitigated worldview defense only if participants had the opportunity to affirm their religious beliefs. study 3 illustrated that affirmation of religious belief decreased death-thought accessibility following mortality salience only for those participants who scored high on the intrinsic religiousness scale. taken as a whole, these results suggest that only those people who are intrinsically vested in their religion derive terror management benefits from religious beliefs.”
Cozzolino, P. J., Staples, A. D., Meyers, L. S., & Samboceti, J.. (2004). Greed, Death, and Values: From Terror Management to Transcendence Management Theory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
“Research supporting terror management theory has shown that participants facing their death (via mortality salience) exhibit more greed than do control participants. the present research attempts to distinguish mortality salience from other forms of mortality awareness. specifically, the authors look to reports of near-death experiences and posttraumatic growth which reveal that many people who nearly die come to view seeking wealth and possession as empty and meaningless. guided by these reports, a manipulation called death reflection was generated. in study 1, highly extrinsic participants who experienced death reflection exhibited intrinsic behavior. in study 2, the manipulation was validated, and in study 3, death reflection and mortality salience manipulations were compared. results showed that mortality salience led highly extrinsic participants to manifest greed, whereas death reflection again generated intrinsic, unselfish behavior. the construct of value orientation is discussed along with the contrast between death reflection manipulation and mortality salience.”
Florian, V., & Mikulincer, M.. (1997). Fear of death and the judgment of social transgressions: A multidimensional test of terror management theory.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“The purpose of the research was to integrate a multidimensional approach to fear of personal death with terror management theory. in study 1, 190 students were divided according to the manipulation of death salience and the intrapersonal and interpersonal aspects of fear of death and were asked to judge transgressions that have either intrapersonal or interpersonal consequences. study 2 was a conceptual replication of study 1, with the exception that the manipulation of mortality salience included conditions that made salient either intrapersonal or interpersonal aspects of death. findings indicate that the effects of mortality salience depend on the aspect of death that is made salient, the aspect of death that individuals most fear, and the type of the judged transgression. more severe judgments of transgressions after death salience manipulation were found mainly when there was a fit between these 3 factors. findings are discussed in light of terror management theory.”
Arndt, J., Solomon, S., Kasser, T., & Sheldon, K. M.. (2004). The urge to splurge: A terror management account of materialism and consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology
“This article presents terror management theory (tmt) as a way to understand how the human awareness of death affects materialism, conspicuous consumption, and consumer decisions. the pursuit of wealth and culturally desired commodities are hypothesized to reinforce those beliefs that function to protect people from existential anxieties. following a brief overview of tmt and research, evidence is reviewed that explicates how intimations of mortality increase materialism as a way to enhance self-esteem and affects consumer decisions that support one’s cultural worldview. adverse consequences of materialistic and consumeristic worldviews are described and the challenges for future research to discover ways to alleviate them are considered.”