A terror management analysis of self-awareness and anxiety: The hierarchy of terror

Abstract

In this article, we apply terror management theory to the operation of self-awareness processes. According to the theory, self-esteem consists of accepting a cultural conception of reality and believing that one is living up to the standards of value inherent in that conception. The function of self-esteem is to buffer the anxiety that results from the awareness of human vulnerability and mortality that results from our capacity for self-awareness. We argue that self-awareness leads to comparisons with standards, and to behavior aimed at reducing any discrepancies that are detected, because of the potential for existential terror that self-awareness creates. Existential terror is seen as the emotional manifestation of the instinct for self-preservation. Management of this terror is conceptualized as the superordinate goal in a hierarchy of standards through which behavior is regulated. A hierarchical terror management model is proposed. This structure provides a unique analysis of the self-system and its relationship to other attitudes, values, and beliefs. The theory posits several dynamic principles that specify how self-awareness and disruptions determine the movement of conscious attention through various levels of the hierarchy. The implications of this analysis for unresolved theoretical questions about self-awareness processes, unconscius sources of motivation, and clinical problems are discussed.     

Existential motive underlying cosmetic surgery: A terror management analysis

Why do people consider cosmetic surgery? Based on the terror management theory, the present research identifies an existential motive: Through cosmetic surgery, people can symbolically defend against their death anxiety. A correlational study and an experiment showed that death terror, whether operationalized as individual differences in fear of death or experimentally manipulated mortality salience, was associated with stronger acceptance of cosmetic surgery. This association was absent among participants who did not consider physical appearance important, and weaker among those who were satisfied about their appearance. Also, this association was particularly strong among those with high explicit self‐esteem. This concurs with the recent theoretical development about the role of self‐esteem in symbolic defenses against death terror.     

Functional analysis and treatment of verbal perseverations displayed by an adult with autism

The function of perseverative speech for an adult man who had been diagnosed with autism and mental retardation was examined. Results showed that verbal perseverations were maintained by social attention. An intervention consisting of differential reinforcement of appropriate verbal responses and extinction of perseverative verbal responding was effective in decreasing verbal perseverations.     

Brief functional analysis and treatment of bizarre vocalizations in an adult with schizophrenia

Variables responsible for the maintenance of bizarre vocalizations emitted by an adult diagnosed with schizophrenia were examined via a brief functional analysis, and results suggested that the behavior was maintained by attention. A treatment consisting of extinction and differential reinforcement of appropriate vocalizations was effective in reducing bizarre vocalizations and increasing appropriate vocalizations. The use of functional analysis methodology to examine variables that maintain problem behavior in this population is discussed.     

死亡意识的恐惧管理和悲伤管理

基于悲伤情绪的功能及效应,提出死亡意识的“悲伤管理假设”。实验1采用电生理、微表情、主观报告等方法探索死亡意识伴随的情绪变化;实验2和实验3对比死亡意识的“悲伤管理”和“恐惧管理”,并探索情绪的中介作用。结果发现：死亡意识诱发悲伤和恐惧(尤其是悲伤),且死亡反思诱发更多的悲伤;恐惧在死亡意识与外在人生目标间起中介作用;悲伤(而非恐惧)背景音乐下,死亡意识使个体更重视内在人生目标。上述结果为死亡意识的“悲伤管理”提供了实证依据,表明在悲伤的情绪中加工死亡意识可能促进个体的内在成长,这对疫情等社会灾难时期的心理救援具有启示意义。     

The horsemen of the Apocalypse: messianism and terror

Continental Philosophy Review - I draw a phenomenological approach to religious violence by using as an example the terror apparatus called Daesh (or ISIS). After a brief reminder of my method (the...     

Gilbert's first night anxiety.

W. S. Gilbert, librettist of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, suffered from such extreme anxiety at the opening night performance of his plays that he was unable to remain in the theater. This paper explores the dynamics behind Gilbert's first night anxiety, utilizing his literary works as well as biographical and autobiographical sources.     

The consultation process with an adult: a child analyst's perspective

A close examination of a consultation is presented. Such a face-to-face encounter with an adult patient can suggest a parallel with another type of treatment: child analysis. It is argued that certain ways of working with children in analysis--the gliding between the interpersonal and the intrapsychic--were especially useful in bringing this adult patient to engage in analysis. Also highlighted in this account are interventions that function not as interpretations per se but as protointerpretations aimed at arousing preconscious affect states for the purpose of bringing them into conscious experience.     

The analysis of proximities: Multidimensional scaling with an unknown distance function. I.

A computer program is described that is designed to reconstruct the metric configuration of a set of points in Euclidean space on the basis of essentially nonmetric information about that configuration. A minimum set of Cartesian coordinates for the points is determined when the only available information specifies for each pair of those points—not the distance between them—but some unknown, fixed monotonic function of that distance. The program is proposed as a tool for reductively analyzing several types of psychological data, particularly measures of interstimulus similarity or confusability, by making explicit the multidimensional structure underlying such data.     

Aspects of the analysis of an adult son of deaf-mute parents

This case demonstrates unique features connected with the parental deafness: the patient's anger toward women, his splitting of objects into all-good and all-bad, ease of regression, yearning for the symbiotic mother particularly as it was related to space as a transitional phenomenon into which he brooked no intrusion, his unique interests and creativity, his method of teaching, the shaping of the Oedipus complex by preoedipal trauma, and his feeling of entitlement with need to be treated as an exception. I have attempted to demonstrate the relation of the preverbal and preoedipal traumata, stemming from the deaf-mutism of the parents of a hearing child, to the patient's pathology, the shaping of his oedipal constellation, and character traits. I have described the compensatory ego functions that resulted in the development of creative, professional ability. Also, I have tried to demonstrate the complicated multiple overdetermination of his symptoms and aspects of his character formation.     

Generativity and successful parenting: an analysis of young adult outcomes

Generativity scores were assessed in parents and correlated with offspring outcomes. The offspring were participants in a longitudinal study spanning their first and senior years of college. Generativity of parents was positively related to offspring agreeableness and conscientiousness. Parental generativity was also related to offspring scores on future time orientation and positive affect. In addition, generative parents seemed to model their political interests to offspring, and that modeling was related to children's higher scores on generativity and greater interest in politics. Parental generativity was also related to offspring religiosity. Most of these relationships remained significant after controlling for offspring scores on generativity. Generativity of parents appears to be related to successful offspring outcomes.     

Coping responses in the midst of terror: The July 22 terror attack at Utøya Island in Norway

This study examined the peri‐trauma coping responses of 325 survivors, mostly youth, after the July 22, 2011 terror attack on Utøya Island in Norway. The aim was to understand peri‐trauma coping responses and their relation to subsequent post‐traumatic stress (PTS) reactions. Respondents were interviewed face‐to‐face 4–5 months after the shooting, and most were interviewed at their homes. Peri‐trauma coping was assessed using ten selected items from the “How I Cope Under Pressure Scale” (HICUPS), covering the dimensions of problem solving, positive cognitive restructuring, avoidance, support seeking, seeking understanding, and religious coping. PTS reactions were assessed with the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index. The participants reported using a wide variety of coping strategies. Problem solving, positive cognitive restructuring, and seeking understanding strategies were reported most often. Men reported using more problem‐solving strategies, whereas women reported more emotion‐focused strategies. There were no significant associations between age and the use of coping strategies. Problem solving and positive cognitive restructuring were significantly associated with fewer PTS reactions. The results are discussed in light of previous research and may help to inform early intervention efforts for survivors of traumatic events.     

Validating an older adult driving behaviour model with structural equation modelling and confirmatory factor analysis

The Multilevel Older Persons Transportation and Road Safety (MOTRS) model postulates a role for demographic, functional, and psychosocial factors in driving self-regulation. This study formally tested the constructs of the MOTRS model, and its ability to account for variation in older adult’s driving self-regulation. Four exogenous constructs dealing with sociodemographic and driving-related variables (driving space, dependency on other drivers, health, and driving performance) and three endogenous constructs of psychosocial appraisals (driving confidence, attitudes and beliefs towards driving) were used to predict driving self-regulation. A sample of 277 Australian drivers, aged 65 years or over, completed standardised questionnaires to assess these variables. Structural equation modelling was used to evaluate one of the model’s assumptions. Findings established that sociodemographic and driving-related factors influence older adults’ driving self-regulation by impacting psychosocial variables. A re-specified model accounted for 75% of the variance in self-reported driving self-regulation. When other variables were considered, attitude towards driving was the strongest single predictor of driving self-regulation. These findings provide an initial partial validation of the MOTRS model. The results indicate that psychosocial variables are important determinants of driving self-regulation by older adults. This model could guide future research into older adults’ driving self-regulation.     

The intergenerational effects of trauma from terror: A real possibility

The goals of this article are to discuss the potential risk of children whose parents were traumatized by terror, to present literature on parenting in the context of terror, and to consider factors that may mediate the transmission of trauma‐effects from parents to children. Mediators considered are parents' traumatic distress, disturbed parent–child interactions, trauma‐related disturbances in parents' thinking, and effects of stress on children's neural functioning. Also discussed are genetic and environmental factors that may moderate the transmission of intergenerational effects and promote children's risk and resilience. Points raised during the discussion are illustrated with segments from interviews of women who were pregnant or gave birth some time after direct exposure to a terror attack. The authors conclude that empirical studies are needed to learn more about the intergenerational transmission of trauma‐effects and processes that underlie it. The authors join others in the call to improve evaluation, treatment, and support of trauma victims and their children to stymie the transmission of problems from one generation to the next.     

The analysis of proximities: Multidimensional scaling with an unknown distance function. II

The first in the present series of two papers described a computer program for multidimensional scaling on the basis of essentially nonmetric data. This second paper reports the results of two kinds of test applications of that program. The first application is to artificial data generated by monotonically transforming the interpoint distances in a known spatial configuration. The purpose is to show that the recovery of the original metric configuration does not depend upon the particular transformation used. The second application is to measures of interstimulus similarity and confusability obtained from some actual psychological experiments.     

恐惧管理中死亡焦虑不同防御机制之间的关系

根据恐惧管理理论, 个体主要通过世界观、自尊和亲密关系三种防御机制来应对必死性意识引发的死亡焦虑。主流观点认为三种防御机制在防御死亡焦虑时的地位是平等的, 符合“流动补偿机制”。本文讨论了流动补偿机制的局限性, 提出三种防御机制之间关系的新观点: 优先级假设, 认为三种防御机制地位并非平等, 而是存在优先级: 亲密关系优先于世界观和自尊, 世界观优先于自尊。在梳理了支持证据后, 本文尝试从发展性视角对优先级假设提出可能的解释, 认为这种优先级来源于防御机制的发展顺序和衍生关系。     

Psychoanalytic theory in times of terror

Recent events have underlined in the most tragic and dramatic way the need for depth psychology to turn its attention to the psychology of terror. The present paper attempts to distinguish between the psychological modes of horror and terror and explores the different theoretical approaches of Burke, Freud, Kristeva and Jung to this problem in order to cast light on the individual and collective functions that horror and terror play. While all these authors stress that terror and horror play a role in structuring the sense of identity and in strengthening community bonds, Freud and Kristeva believe that the experience of horror works to increase the exclusion of otherness through mechanisms of repression or foreclosure while Burke and Jung see in the encounter with the Negative Sublime or with the Shadow the possibility of widening the boundaries of ego consciousness and of integration of 'otherness'. The paper then uses the analysis of two horror movies and of a particular socio-cultural context to illustrate these different functions of horror and terror and to delineate possible solutions to the problems facing society.