Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to submit your manuscript to SPPS

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
0146167207303018v1
33/8/1137    most recent
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (1)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Strachan, E.
Right arrow Articles by Greenberg, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Strachan, E.
Right arrow Articles by Greenberg, J.
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Terror Mismanagement: Evidence That Mortality Salience Exacerbates Phobic and Compulsive Behaviors

Eric Strachan

University of Washington School of Medicine, erstrach{at}u.washington.edu

Jeff Schimel

University of Alberta

Jamie Arndt

University of Missouri, Columbia

Todd Williams

University of Alberta

Sheldon Solomon

Skidmore College

Tom Pyszczynski

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Jeff Greenberg

University of Arizona

Terror management theory (TMT) posits that cultural worldviews and self-esteem function to buffer humans from mortality-related anxiety. TMT research has shown that important behaviors are influenced by mortality salience (MS) even when they have no obvious connection to death. However, there has been no attempt to investigate TMT processes in anxious responding. The present research examines that question. In Study 1, compared to a control condition, MS increased anxious responding to spider-related stimuli, but only for participants who met criteria for specific phobia. In Study 2, compared to an aversive control condition, MS increased time spent washing hands, but only for those scoring high on a measure of compulsive hand washing (CHW). In Study 3, compared to a different aversive control condition, MS increased avoidance of a social interaction, but only for those scoring high on a measure of social interaction anxiety. The relevance of TMT in anxious responding is discussed.

Key Words: terror management theory • anxiety • specific phobia • obsessive-compulsive disorder • social anxiety

This version was published on August 1, 2007

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 33, No. 8, 1137-1151 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167207303018


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?