Citation

Wisman A, Heflick NA. Cogn. Emot. 2015; 30(5): 868-889.

Affiliation

a School of Psychology , University of Kent , Canterbury , Kent , UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/02699931.2015.1031643

PMID

25920481

Abstract

Do people lose hope when thinking about death? Based on Terror Management Theory, we predicted that thoughts of death (i.e., mortality salience) would reduce personal hope for people low, but not high, in self-esteem, and that this reduction in hope would be ameliorated by promises of immortality. In Studies 1 and 2, mortality salience reduced personal hope for people low in self-esteem, but not for people high in self-esteem. In Study 3, mortality salience reduced hope for people low in self-esteem when they read an argument that there is no afterlife, but not when they read "evidence" supporting life after death. In Study 4, this effect was replicated with an essay affirming scientific medical advances that promise immortality. Together, these findings uniquely demonstrate that thoughts of mortality interact with trait self-esteem to cause changes in personal hope, and that literal immortality beliefs can aid psychological adjustment when thinking about death. Implications for understanding personal hope, trait self-esteem, afterlife beliefs and terror management are discussed.

Language: en