Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Reports
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 8 October 2010
Revised 20 April 2011
Available online 30 April 2011
Keywords:
Terror management
Implicit
Prejudice
Attitudes
Peace-making
a b s t r a c t
Many studies demonstrate that mortality salience can increase negativity toward outgroups but few have
examined variables that mitigate this effect. The present research examined whether subtly priming people to
think of human experiences shared by people from diverse cultures increases perceived similarity of members
of different groups, which then reduces MS-induced negativity toward outgroups. In Study 1, exposure to
pictures of people from diverse cultures engaged in common human activities non-signicantly reversed the
effect of MS on implicit anti-Arab prejudice. In Study 2, thinking about similarities between one's own favorite
childhood memories and those of people from other countries eliminated MS-induced explicit negative
attitudes toward immigrants. In Study 3, thinking about similarities between one's own painful childhood
memories and those of people from other countries eliminated the MS-induced reduction in support for
peace-making. Mediation analyses suggest the effects were driven by perceived similarity of people across
cultures. These ndings suggest that priming widely shared human experiences can attenuate MS-induced
intergroup conict.
Published by Elsevier Inc.
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: motyl@virginia.edu (M. Motyl).
0022-1031/$ see front matter. Published by Elsevier Inc.
doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.04.010
1180
0.9
Death
0.8
Dental Pain
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
International Pictures
American Pictures
Non-descript Pictures
1181
the names and geographic origins of the children depicted in them. For
example, one vignette read:
I'll always remember when my family brought me to the beach for
the very rst time. It was on a trip to Acapulco and I was only 6 years
old at the time. It was amazing. I got to build my rst sandcastle and
play in the rough waters. Some of the waves were bigger than me
and would throw me around. That didn't stop me from playing in the
water though!!
-Miguel [Michael] from Cuernavaca, Mexico [Orlando, Florida]
After reading each vignette, participants were asked to recall a
similar childhood memory of their own and to describe it in three to
ve sentences.
Based on random assignment, participants were then primed with
either MS or dental pain (as in Experiment 1) followed by the PANAS
(Watson et al., 1988).2 They then completed an 8-item measure of
perceived similarity of people from diverse cultures (e.g., I see a lot of
parallels between our culture and the core values that guide the lives
of people from different countries; and Regardless of religion or
culture, people from all other countries have hopes and dreams that
are the same as our own), rating agreement on an 11-point scale
(11 = strongly agree, 1 = strongly disagree). Internal reliability was
acceptable ( = .67).
Lastly, participants completed a 14-item assessment of their
attitudes toward immigration (e.g., We should construct physical
barriers [e.g., walls, fences etc.] along our borders to restrict the ow
of illegal immigrants and Illegal immigrants are largely responsible
for the dismal state of healthcare services in America today) by rating
their agreement on 11-point scales (11 = strongly agree, 1 = strongly
disagree). Internal reliability was excellent, = .89.
1182
8
Death
Dental Pain
Method
Anti-Immigrant Hostility
7
6
Participants
Ninety-three American undergraduate introductory psychology
students at a liberal arts college in the Northeastern United States (55
women), ranging in age from 18 to 22 years (M = 19.31, SD = 0.99),
participated for credit toward a course requirement.
5
4
3
2
1
International Authors
American Authors
Death
Dental Pain
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
International Authors
American Authors
1183
1184
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., & Solomon, S. (1986). The causes and consequences of a
need for self-esteem: A terror management theory. In R. F. Baumeister (Ed.), Public
self and private self (pp. 189212). New York: Springer-Verlag.
Greenberg, J., Simon, L., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., & Chatel, D. (1992). Terror
management and tolerance: Does mortality salience always intensify negative
reactions to others who threaten one's worldview? Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 63, 212220.
Greenwald, A. G., Nosek, B. A., & Banaji, M. R. (2003). Understanding and using the
Implicit Association Test: I. An improved scoring algorithm. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 85, 197216.
Hirschberger, G., & Ein-Dor, T. (2006). Defenders of a lost cause: Terror management
and violent resistance to the disengagement plan. Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, 32, 761769.
Judd, C. M., & Kenny, D. A. (2010). Data analysis in social psychology: Recent and
recurring issues. In S. T. Fiske, D. T. Gilbert, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social
psychology (pp. 115142). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
MacKinnon, D. P., Fairchild, A. J., & Fritz, M. S. (2007). Mediation analysis. Annual Review
of Psychology, 58, 593614.
McAlister, A. L., Bandura, A., & Owen, S. V. (2006). Mechanisms of moral disengagement
in support of military force: The impact of Sept. 11. Journal of Social and Clinical
Psychology, 25, 141165.
McGregor, H., Lieberman, J. D., Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., Arndt, J., Simon, L., et al.
(1998). Terror management and aggression: Evidence that mortality salience
motivates aggression against worldview threatening others. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 74, 590605.
Motyl, M., Hart, J., & Pyszczynski, T. (2009). When animals attack: The effects of
mortality salience, infrahumanization of violence, and authoritarianism on support
for war. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 200203.
Motyl, M., & Pyszczynski, T. (2009). The existential underpinnings of the cycle of
terrorist and counterterrorist violence and pathways to peaceful resolutions.
International Review of Social Psychology, 22, 267291.
Motyl, M., Rothschild, Z., & Pyszczynski, T. (2009). The cycle of violence and pathways
to peace. Organisational Transformation and Social Change, 6, 153170.
Nosek, B. A., Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (2005). Understanding and using the
Implicit Association Test: II. Method variables and construct validity. Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 166180.
Pyszczynski, T., Abdollahi, A., Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., Cohen, F., & Weise, D. (2006).
Mortality salience, martyrdom, and military might: The great Satan versus the axis
of evil. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 525537.
Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., & Greenberg, J. (2003). In the wake of 9/11: The psychology
of terror. New York: American Psychological Association.
Pyszczysnki, T., Wicklund, R. A., Floresku, S., Koch, H., Gauch, G., Solomon, S., et al.
(1996). Whistling in the dark: Exaggerated consensus estimates in response to
incidental reminders of mortality. Psychological Science, 7, 332336.
Rothschild, Z. K., Abdollahi, A., & Pyszczynski, T. (2009). Does peace have a prayer?
The effect of mortality salience, compassionate values, and religious fundamentalism on hostility toward outgroups. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45,
816827.
Sherif, M. (1966). In common predicament. Boston: Houghton Mifin.
Vail, K. E., III, Arndt, J., Motyl, M., & Pyszczynski, T. (2009). Compassionate values and
presidential politics: Mortality salience, compassionate values and support for
Barack Obama and John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Analyses of Social
Issues and Public Policy, 9, 255268.
Vail, K. E., III, & Motyl, M. S. (2010). Support for diplomacy: Peacemaking and militarism
as a unidimensional correlate of social, environmental, and political attitudes. Peace
and Conict: The Journal of Peace Psychology, 16, 2957.
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief
measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 54, 10631070.
Weise, D. R., Pyszczynski, T., Cox, C. R., Arndt, J., Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., et al. (2008).
Interpersonal politics: The role of terror management and attachment processes in
shaping political preferences. Psychological Science, 19, 448455.