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6th RMPA Terror Management Symposium – Salt Lake City 2017

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1 6th RMPA Terror Management Symposium – Salt Lake City 2017
Trump, Sexual Assault, Water Protectors, and Doggies: Five Tests of Terror Management Theory on its 30th Anniversary   Terror Management Theory (TMT) was initially proposed in the late 1980s, initiated by two relatively simple questions: Why do people have such a great need to feel good about themselves? and Why do people have so much trouble getting along with those different from themselves? To mark 30 years of thinking and research on terror management theory (TMT), which postulates that investment in cultural worldviews buffers death anxiety, this symposium features five different yet complementary presentations testing TMT’s applications to the 2016 US election, the Dakota Access Pipeline's Water Protectors, pets, and attitudes toward sexual assault. Results show that death reminders may increase anger regarding sexual assault, that their effects may be reduced by interactions with pet dogs, and that death may unconsciously undermine our activism and voting behavior.

2 Brian L. Burke Professor of Psychology Fort Lewis College Durango, CO

3 McGregor et al. (1998) Method:
74 college students at the University of Arizona Experimental Group: “Please describe the emotions that the thought of your own death arouses in you” Control Group: same instruction but with “your next important exam” replacing “death” Allocate any amount of vile hot sauce to next participant coming in, who is either liberal or conservative politically What do you predict will happen?

4 McGregor et al. (1998)

5 In small groups: Discuss the possible explanations for the McGregor et al. (1998) results: WHY did people give more vile hot sauce to political opponents only in the “death” condition? Come up with at least 2 explanations… Political Views: Hot Sauce (grams)

6 TERROR MANAGEMENT THEORY
“Flight from Death” film trailer THIS ANALYSIS FOLLOWS 4 STEPS: I. DEFINING THE PROBLEM II. PROPOSING THE SOLUTION III. REAL-WORLD IMPLICATIONS IV. RESEARCH  EVALUATION 

7 I. DEFINING THE PROBLEM Multidisciplinary approach to humanity
Ernest Becker, DENIAL OF DEATH (1974) Multidisciplinary approach to humanity

8 TMT formula: Instinct for self-preservation (all animals) +
Awareness of mortality (humans only) =TERROR!

9 “The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity - designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny of man.” – Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death

10 II. PROPOSING THE SOLUTION
We manage our terror by investing in our culture What is culture? SHARED BELIEFS AND VIEW OF REALITY THAT GIVES OUR WORLD MEANING… e.g., religion, political party, sports team

11 The solution? “The supernatural and cultural scheme of things that we humans embrace to manage existential terror is nevertheless ultimately a defensive distortion and obfuscation of reality to blot out the inevitability of death.” -Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, The Worm at The Core (2015, p.123)

12 III. REAL-WORLD IMPLICATIONS
“TRUTH” is CULTURALLY RELATIVE Why might this lead to problems? When we encounter people with different cultural worldviews, we need some way in which to defend or bolster our own worldview We can do this by changing our own views, changing others (conversion), or disparaging others via prejudice or violence/war…

13 The problem with the solution?
“If just one person believed that God spoke to Moses in the form of a burning bush, antipsychotic medication would be sought to relieve this poor soul of his florid delusion. But when the same belief is shared by millions of people, it becomes unassailable truth.” -Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, The Worm at The Core (2015, p.133)

14 IV. RESEARCH EVALUATION
Terror Management Theory (TMT) = When confronted with our own death, our need to invest in or defend our culture will increase! [death  culture  invest/defend] Let’s go back to the McGregor et al. (1998) study: WHY did people give more vile hot sauce to political opponents only in the “death” condition? *HERE’s WHAT NPR SAYS (2011)

15 Burke, Martens, & Faucher (2010)
300+ experiments in 10+ countries have shown that death reminders cause increases in (r=.35): bias against those of different religion or gender (Greenberg et al., 1990; Fritsche & Jonas, 2005) desire to have children (Wisman & Goldenberg, 2005) emphasis on dieting for women (Goldenberg et al., 2005) materialism & greed (Kasser & Sheldon, 2000) “killer ads” boost the urge to buy products (Das et al., 2014) smoking & drinking (Hansen et al., 2010; Jessop et al., 2008) belief in afterlife and supernatural agency (Vail et al., 2010) charitable donations and helping (Hirschberger, 2010) vile hot sauce given to political opponent (McGregor, 1998) TMT effects reduced by candy (Hirschberger, 2005) or teddy bear (Koole, 2014)

16 Burke, B. L. , Kosloff, S. , & Landau, M. J. (2013)
Burke, B. L., Kosloff, S., & Landau, M. J. (2013). Death Goes to the Polls: A Meta-Analysis of Mortality Salience Effects on Political Attitudes. Political Psychology, 34, Kosloff, S., Burke, B. L., & Landau, M. J. (2016). Terror Management and Politics: Comparing and Integrating the ‘Conservative Shift’ and ‘Political Worldview Defense’ Hypotheses. In L.A. Harvell & G.S. Nisbett (Eds.), Denying Death: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Terror Management Theory. New York: Routledge.

17 TMT Research: Death & Politics
2 types of dependent variables 56% of studies measured participants’ evaluation of candidate for political office, either by asking who they would vote for or by assessing agreement with candidate’s views 44% percent of studies measured specific political attitudes such as support for national military force or attitude toward abortion, capital punishment, or other politically-charged issues

18 TMT Research: Death & Politics
Overall effect size for MS manipulations on political attitudes: r(38) = .44 (90th percentile!) Only moderator was delay (B = .30, p = .08) Conservative shift hypothesis: political conservatism effectively manages death anxiety (Jost et al., 2003) Conversely, TMT proposes that MS increases allegiance to the person’s own beliefs, which may or may not include conservatism (Greenberg et al., 1992) When do the theories make different predictions?

19 Conservative Shift after MS
9 experiments showed increased support for Republican presidential candidates (George W. Bush in 6/9) regardless of preexisting political ideology (Cohen et al., 2005; Cuillier, 2009; 3 in Landau et al., 2004; Ogilvie et al., 2008; Vail et al., 2009; 2 in Cohen et al., 2016) Others showed increased conservative attitudes such as pro-capital punishment or anti-abortion (Nail et al., 2009)

20 Worldview allegiance after MS
Increased support for Obama among non-Caucasians (Francis et al., 2010) or when compassion was primed (Vail et al., 2009) Decreased support for military force when a secure relationship or Koran/Biblical values of tolerance were first primed (Weise et al., 2008; Rothschild et al., 2009)

21 Two Competing Political Theories
r (CS) = .23, r (WVA) = .27, Q(1)=.12, p = .72

22 When does each occur? Conservatism = psychological “default” to which people gravitate after death reminders MS only amplifies worldview allegiance when situations or dispositions render additional values/features salient, such as: Ethnicity Historical conditions Charismatic leadership Relationship primes Compassionate values (secular, Bible, or Koran)

23 Current Research: Conclusion
Reliance upon status quo is a fundamental reaction to death anxiety But this can be overridden by factors that make specific aspects of one’s cultural worldview transiently salient Liberals and conservatives may both become more conservative when thinking about death unless a competing aspect of their worldview is concomitantly activated… Death affects us in ways we might not realize

24 Discuss in pairs/groups
How did the candidates use TMT in our 2016 US election?

25 Cohen, Solomon, & Kaplin (2016)
In two studies, US college students showed higher support for Trump on a 4-item scale after death reminders than after pain reminders, r = .33 (Study 1) and .25 (Study 2)

26 Bayly, Spiker, & Cardell (2016, RMPA)
Note: A total of n=58 Ps reported they had heard of Donald Trump. The ANOVA found significance for political affiliation, with F(1,55)=32.97, p=.000, and a trend for the MS by political affiliation interaction, with F(1,55)=2.13, p=.15, effect size r = .21.

27 “Anyone who is a fan of democracy should be very concerned by the fact that a relatively subtle alteration of psychological conditions can have such profound effects on political preferences.” Dr. Sheldon Solomon in 2016 on the strong findings that reveal mortality salience increases voter support for ‘charismatic leaders,’ including George W. Bush and Donald J. Trump

28 More on this later today: Bayly, Spiker, & Cardell, 2017
Acting President Bump? Effect sizes compared to other Presidential support research: rs < .30 for Trump or McCain VS rs ~ .70 for Bush (Landau et al., 2004)

29


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