magazine issue 9 2008 / Issue 8

Penetrating the Circle of Death: Why People are Dying (and Killing) Not to Die

• written by Daniel Sullivan & Jeff Greenberg
• edited by Tila Pronk

Such haunting findings speak directly to the riddle of death we first noted. We attach ourselves to cultural constructs that quell our fears with a promise of some form of immortality; but having psychologically invested our very lives in these entities, we defend them fiercely, too often with ignoble results, killing and being killed for our ideals, our country, our deities. Indeed, further supporting the idea of this circle of death, Routledge and Arndt (in press) recently found that MS increased British subjects reported willingness to die for their country unless they were first reminded of another path to symbolic immortality.

Of course, the willingness to engage in self-sacrifice is not the most common form of combating death anxiety. There are many ways of endorsing and living up to the values of most cultural worldviews without hastening our own demise, or that of others. Still, history suggests that, all too often, non-suicidal aggression has served to defend cherished worldviews; to paraphrase the film Patton, wars are won not by dying for your country, but by making someone else die for theirs. Such a mindset was displayed by the Christian participants in a study conducted by Hayes, Schimel and Williams (2008), who displayed worldview defense in response to a threat to Christianity, but not after reading an article describing the deaths of several Muslims in a plane crash. In a bitter twist of irony, the deaths of different others can sometimes make us feel better about our own.

"A way to the better…"?

Predicted effects of MS have been demonstrated using a variety of forms of death reminder and a wide range of measures. Additionally, aversive control topics including contemplation of isolation, uncertainties, failure, and intense physical pain have been used across studies and they consistently fail to produce the same effects as reminders of one’s own death. Taken as a whole, the TMT literature shows that the awareness of death holds more power over our lives than we realize, and that it can fuel ideologies that bring more death into the world in a chilling circle.

However, not all TMT findings have been as bleak as those we have summarized. Just as human culture can contain good and evil elements, ranging from beautiful art to xenophobic tendencies, death as a key existential motivator can spur us on to lofty heights as well as dark depths. Recent directions in TMT research have indicated that reminders of mortality can sometimes motivate pro-social actions, as one excellent way to obtain symbolic immortality in most cultures is to establish a reputation for generosity and selflessness. Thus in some experiments MS participants have been more willing to donate to charities, or simply help out friends in day-to-day situations (e.g., Jonas et al., 2002). Other research hints at the possibility that there may be non-defensive ways that people can come to terms with their mortality (Cozzolino et al., 2004).

Even though TMT lays bare our deepest fears and most violent or inhumane tendencies, consideration of this dark side of life may be a necessary step for the science of humanity to one day disrupt the destructive circular influence of death on our lives. To quote a motto Becker (1975) paraphrased from novelist and poet Thomas Hardy: "If a way to the better there be, it lies in taking a full look at the worst."

References

Arndt, J., Cook, A., & Routledge, C. (2004). The blueprint of terror management: Understanding the cognitive architecture of psychological defense against death-related thought. In J. Greenberg, S. Koole, & T. Pyszczynski (Eds.), Handbook of Empirical Existential Psychology. New York: Guilford.

Becker, E. (1973). http://www.amazon.com/Denial Death-Ernest-Becker/dp/B0018SWBN2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216651197&sr=1-2" target="_blank">The denial of death. New York: The Free Press.

Becker, E. (1975). Escape from evil. New York: The Free Press.

Cozzolino, P. J., Staples, A. D., Meyers, L. S., & Samboceti, J. (2004). http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/30/3/278 " target="_blank">Greed, death, and values: From terror management to transcendence management theory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 278-292.