Why do people need self-esteem? A theoretical and empirical review

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.     

The extraction of structure during reading: Evidence from reading prosody

According to the structural approach to reading, the extraction of structure precedes the analysis of meaning and paves the way for it. In this study, reading prosody was used to examine this proposition. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that reading prosody produced on line reflects the early extraction of structure. In Experiment 1, readers were successful in assigning natural prosody to unfamiliar text immediately upon its reading. Experiment 2 showed that the prosodic patterns applied are tuned to the structure of the sentence and are largely indifferent to the content of the sentence or to its semantic coherence. The results join with other findings in speech production and comprehension in supporting the precedence of structure to meaning in reading.     

Mortality salience and the spreading activation of worldview-relevant constructs: exploring the cognitive architecture of terror management

Seven experiments assessed the hypothesis derived from terror management theory that reminding people of their mortality would increase accessibility of constructs central to their worldview. Experiment 1 found that mortality primes, relative to control primes, increased accessibility of nationalistic constructs for men but not for women. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and also found that mortality salience increased romantic accessibility for women but not for men. Four subsequent experiments supported the role of unconscious death-related ideation in producing these effects. A final experiment demonstrated that situational primes can increase the accessibility of nationalistic constructs for women after mortality salience. The roles of situational cues and individual differences in the effects of exposure to death-related stimuli on worldview-relevant construct accessibility are discussed.     

The contribution of novel brain imaging techniques to understanding the neurobiology of mental retardation and developmental disabilities

Studying the biological mechanisms underlying mental retardation and developmental disabilities (MR/DD) is a very complex task. This is due to the wide heterogeneity of etiologies and pathways that lead to MR/DD. Breakthroughs in genetics and molecular biology and the development of sophisticated brain imaging techniques during the last decades have facilitated the emergence of a field called Behavioral Neurogenetics. Behavioral Neurogenetics focuses on studying genetic diseases with known etiologies that are manifested by unique cognitive and behavioral phenotypes. In this review, we describe the principles of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, including structural MRI, functional MRI, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and how they are implemented in the study of Williams (WS), velocardiofacial (VCFS), and fragile X (FXS) syndromes. From WS we learn that dorsal stream abnormalities can be associated with visuospatial deficits; VCFS is a model for exploring the molecular and brain pathways that lead to psychiatric disorders for which subjects with MR/DD are at increased risk; and finally, findings from multimodal imaging techniques show that aberrant frontal-striatal connections are implicated in the executive function and attentional deficits of subjects with FXS. By deciphering the molecular pathways and brain structure and function associated with cognitive deficits, we will gain a better understanding of the pathophysiology of MR/DD, which will eventually make possible more specific treatments for this population.     

I am not an animal: mortality salience, disgust, and the denial of human creatureliness

The present research investigated the need to distinguish humans from animals and tested the hypothesis derived from terror management theory that this need stems in part from existential mortality concerns. Specifically, the authors suggest that being an animal is threatening because it reminds people of their vulnerability to death; therefore, reminding people of their mortality was hypothesized to increase the need to distance from animals. In support, Study 1 revealed that reminders of death led to an increased emotional reaction of disgust to body products and animals. Study 2 showed that compared to a control condition, mortality salience led to greater preference for an essay describing people as distinct from animals; and within the mortality salient condition but not the control condition, the essay emphasizing differences from other animals was preferred to the essay emphasizing similarities. The implications of these results for understanding why humans are so invested in beautifying their bodies and denying creaturely aspects of themselves are discussed.     

Enhancing school-based prevention and youth development through coordinated social,emotional, and academic learning

A comprehensive mission for schools is to educate students to be knowledgeable, responsible, socially skilled, healthy, caring, and contributing citizens. This mission is supported by the growing number of school-based prevention and youth development programs. Yet, the current impact of these programs is limited because of insufficient coordination with other components of school operations and inattention to implementation and evaluation factors necessary for strong program impact and sustainability. Widespread implementation of beneficial prevention programming requires further development of research-based, comprehensive school reform models that improve social, health, and academic outcomes; educational policies that demand accountability for fostering children's full development; professional development that prepares and supports educators to implement programs effectively; and systematic monitoring and evaluation to guide school improvement.     

Tolerance to drug-induced (poly I:C) natural killer cell activation: congruence with a Pavlovian conditioning model

Two experiments were conducted to assess the role of conditioning factors on the tolerance of drug-induced natural killer (NK) cell activity. A protocol in which mice were given four weekly injections of the immunostimulatory synthetic polynucleotide (poly I:C) paired with a complex environmental stimulus produced a reliable tolerance effect. The sensitivity of the observed tolerance to known decremental conditioning procedures--extinction (Experiment 1) and preexposure to the conditioning stimulus (latent inhibition, Experiment 2)--was investigated. The results indicated that posttreatment exposure to drug-signaling cues (i.e., extinction) significantly reversed tolerance such that NK cell activity was at a level comparable to that for controls receiving the drug for the first time (Experiment 1). In a similar fashion, pretreatment exposure to the drug-signaling cues (CS preexposure) inhibited the development of tolerance (Experiment 2). These results provide initial evidence that nonpharmacological manipulations of drug-signaling environmental cues can affect tolerance to the immunostimulatory effect of poly I:C, as would be expected with a conditioning analysis of such tolerance.     

The Influence of a Multi-theme Park on Cultural Beliefs as a Function of Schema Salience: Promoting and Undermining the Myth of the Old West1

This study assessed the idea that theme park visits can influence cultural beliefs about the past and, further, that such effects depend on the schema of the park most available to the particular visitor. Subjects were randomly assigned to complete a questionnaire either before entering or after exiting Old Tucson, an Old West theme park and movie location. In addition, subjects were given either an “authentic Old West town” cue, a “famous movie location” cue, or no cue. It was expected that the cues would affect Old Tucson's impact on beliefs about the Old West. There was a significant entrance-exit by cue interaction for beliefs in the myth of the Old West. As expected, when no cue was provided, belief in the Old West myth was stronger for exit subjects than for entrance subjects. When the town cue was provided, belief in the myth of the Old West was not affected by the visit. When the movie cue was provided, belief in the Old West myth was weaker for exit subjects than for entrance subjects. For movie cue subjects, the Old Tucson experience seemed to debunk the myth.