Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Existential philosophers and psychologists theorize that openly confronting mortality can break down core assumptions about oneself and the world, providing an invaluable opportunity to reassess one’s value system and move toward a more authentic way of living. That is, to pursue goals based upon values that are fully self-endorsed, rather than values that are externally contingent or poorly internalized. While terror management theory has produced considerable evidence that individuals defensively cling to their cultural worldview more fervently after being primed with death in a subtle manner, various research traditions have also shown that people often experience positive personal development in response to deeper and more conscious contemplations of mortality. Authenticity is conceptualized as inherently non-defensive and bears many similarities to the growth experienced in the context of deeper death reflection; however, very little empirical research has directly assessed the construct of authenticity within these contexts. Therefore, this thesis aimed to clarify the role of authenticity within the non-defensive, growth-oriented processing of death awareness, and the influence of individual differences in moderating these processes. Chapter 2 (Study 1) further developed a case for authenticity as a non-defensive orientation to experience, and to mortality specifically, by outlining the consistent theoretical and empirical associations between authenticity and several constructs previously found to decrease defensive responses to death. Despite confirming several of these correlations within Study 1, insufficient evidence was found for trait authenticity to buffer terror management defense mechanisms. Potential limitations of the first study were discussed which may have impacted the ability to detect the hypothesized effect. Chapter 3 (Studies 2 and 3) moved away from examining defensive responses to subtle death awareness, and used Cozzolino’s (2006) model of dual existential systems as a basis for testing whether increased authentic functioning may emerge as a growth-oriented outcome of deeper death reflection. Importantly, Chapter 3 also examined whether certain individual differences describe those more likely to respond in this way. Study 2 demonstrated that less autonomously (and thus, less authentically) motivated individuals exhibited more autonomous motivation after deeply reflecting on death compared to a control topic, supporting the argument that contemplating death can enhance authentic functioning. Study 3 manipulated the depth of the mortality cues, by comparing the effects of the death reflection induction used in Study 2, a subtle mortality salience prime, and a control topic. No moderating effect of prior autonomous motivation was observed; however, trait curiosity enhanced autonomous motivation after deeper death reflection (compared to subtle mortality salience), and psychological flexibility was associated with greater autonomous motivation in either death awareness condition (compared to the control). These findings suggest that both the depth of the mortality cues and aspects of personality are important for predicting more authentic, growth-oriented responses to death. Chapter 4 (Study 4) extended the ecological validity of the findings in Chapter 3 using a quasi-experimental design, which compared a sample of funeral and cemetery workers that are chronically exposed to naturally occurring mortality cues (suggesting high levels of death reflection) against a demographically matched control sample. Groups were compared on levels of autonomous motivation, in addition to six individual differences constructs theorized to promote growth responses to death awareness. It was found that the funeral and cemetery workers exhibited greater autonomous motivation, in addition to higher levels of psychological flexibility, curiosity, neutral death acceptance and approach-oriented coping, and lower levels of death anxiety and avoidant coping. Furthermore, the positive effect of chronic exposure to mortality cues on authentic functioning was more pronounced among those high in flexibility and low in death anxiety, implying that these constructs may facilitate more authentic responses to death reflection. Chapter 5 provides an overview of the thesis and highlights its implications for understanding the ways in which people respond to death awareness, and for whom the experience of death awareness may be conducive to living more authentically. The findings of this thesis may in turn have implications for how to foster more optimal psychological functioning for those grappling with issues of mortality (or perhaps existential issues more generally) in their daily life. Several promising directions for future research are outlined in this regard.
Author: Andrew Arena
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3087418707