A Theoretical and Empirical Review of the Death-Thought Accessibility Concept in Terror Management Research

Autor/inn/en	Hayes, Joseph; Schimel, Jeff; Arndt, Jamie; Faucher, Erik H.
Titel	A Theoretical and Empirical Review of the Death-Thought Accessibility Concept in Terror Management Research
Quelle	In: Psychological Bulletin, 136 (2010) 5, S.699-739 (41 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0033-2909
DOI	10.1037/a0020524
Schlagwörter	Death; Behavioral Science Research; Anxiety; World Views; Comparative Analysis; Human Body; Cognitive Processes; Defense Mechanisms; Attachment Behavior; Self Esteem + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Sterbefall; Tod; Todesfall; Angst; World view; Weltanschauung; Menschlicher Körper; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Abwehrverhalten; Attachment; Bindungsverhalten; Self-esteem; Selbstaufmerksamkeit
Abstract	Terror management theory (TMT) highlights the motivational impact of thoughts of death in various aspects of everyday life. Since its inception in 1986, research on TMT has undergone a slight but significant shift from an almost exclusive focus on the manipulation of thoughts of death to a marked increase in studies that measure the accessibility of death-related cognition. Indeed, the number of death-thought accessibility (DTA) studies in the published literature has grown substantially in recent years. In light of this increasing reliance on the DTA concept, the present article is meant to provide a comprehensive theoretical and empirical review of the literature employing this concept. After discussing the roots of DTA, the authors outline the theoretical refinements to TMT that have accompanied significant research findings associated with the DTA concept. Four distinct categories (mortality salience, death association, anxiety-buffer threat, and dispositional) are derived to organize the reviewed DTA studies, and the theoretical implications of each category are discussed. Finally, a number of lingering empirical and theoretical issues in the DTA literature are discussed with the aim of stimulating and focusing future research on DTA specifically and TMT in general. (Contains 2 figures and 6 footnotes.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10