Personality and Social Psychology Review · 2003 · 470 citations · 85 references
Existential FunctionSocial PsychologyEducationThanatologySocial SciencesPsychologyExistentialismIntimate RelationshipDeath AwarenessTerror Management TheoryEthics Of LoveMourningPersonal RelationshipDeath IntoClose RelationshipsSocial IdentityApplied Social PsychologySocial StressPsychosocial ResearchRomantic RelationshipsCultureInterpersonal RelationshipsEmpirical EvidenceCultural Psychology
Terror management theory posits that people cope with death anxiety through cultural worldview validation and self‑esteem enhancement. The article proposes that close relationships serve as an additional buffer against death anxiety and reviews supporting evidence. The authors formulate two hypotheses—derived from sociocultural and personal functions of close relationships—that are empirically supported by experimental studies. Empirical data show that death reminders increase motivation for close relationships, that maintaining such relationships shields against death anxiety while their loss heightens it, and that close relationships act as a distinct mechanism from self‑esteem and cultural worldview defenses.
Originally, terror management theory proposed two psychological mechanisms in dealing with the terror of death awareness-cultural worldview validation and self-esteem enhancement. In this article, we would like to promote the idea of close relationships as an additional death-anxiety buffering mechanism and review a growing body of empirical data that support this contention. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the sociocultural and personal functions of close relationships, we formulate two basic hypotheses that have received empirical support in a series of experimental studies. First, death reminders heighten the motivation to form and maintain close relationships. Second, the maintenance of close relationships provides a symbolic shield against the terror of death, whereas the breaking of close relationships results in an upsurge of death awareness. In addition, we present empirical evidence supporting the possibility that close relationships function as a related yet separate mechanism from the self-esteem and cultural worldview defenses.
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