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Die at the right time: optimal time delays in terror management theory
Darrell, Alexander Purcell,author.
Darrell, Alexander Purcell,author.
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2018
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Abstract
Over 30 years, and across hundreds of studies, terror management theory (TMT) has established and supported a complex cognitive model demonstrating how people consciously and unconsciously deal with the knowledge of their inevitable death. A central component of TMT is that movement of mortality-related thoughts from conscious awareness to unconsciousness requires a delay period. However, this delay is rarely, if ever, manipulated. The current studies were designed to test the optimal time delays between the induction of mortality salience and the detection of distal (i.e., unconscious) effects. The current studies revealed ideal time delays as 5-10 min for the detection of death-related thoughts (Studies 1 3) and 10-15 min delays for assessment of distal defenses (Studies 2 3). Additionally, a conditional process analysis was conducted to combine the observed results of the previous experiments to directly test the theoretical structure of TMT (Study 3). Finally, a mini-meta analysis was conducted on all findings. By identifying optimal time delays, the current studies aim to establish stronger guidelines for conducting TMT research.
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1 online resource (v, 68 pages) :
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Psychology