According to terror management theory, awareness of death affects diverse aspects of human thought and behavior. Studies have shown that older and younger adults differ in how they respond to reminders of their mortality. The present study investigated one hypothesized explanation for these findings: Age-related differences in the tendency to make correspondent inferences. The correspondence bias was assessed in younger and older samples after death-related, negative, or neutral primes. Younger adults displayed increased correspondent inferences following mortality primes, whereas older adults' inferences were not affected by the reminder of death. As in prior research, age differences were evident in control conditions; however, age differences were eliminated in the death condition. Results support the existence of age-related differences in responses to mortality, with only younger adults displaying increased reliance on simplistic information structuring after a death reminder.

Creative behaviors are part of an average consumer's everyday life. For example, amateur people buy various art and craft supplies from stores like Michael's, purchase studio time to make pottery, and collect camera accessories to help demonstrate their originality in photography. Usually the final creative product can be preserved for a long period of time. These creative activities are avidly pursued primarily because they provide consumers with enjoyment and a sense of fulfillment. I am coining the term "creation-oriented consumption" to refer to this phenomenon, which is one specific type of creative consumption.Terror management theory is used to examine why people engage in creation-oriented consumption. I hypothesize that mortality salience boosts the intention to engage in creation-oriented consumption; and under mortality salience, weakened afterlife belief increases the intention for this type of consumption.Three experimental studies are conducted, each adopting a somewhat different perspective. Study 1 gauges intention to engage in creation-oriented consumption against inaction. It finds that mortality salience increases interest in creation-oriented consumption; and that under mortality salience, weakened afterlife belief increases interest in creation-oriented consumption. Study 2 examines durable creation-oriented consumption's appeal relative to other activities, namely, non-creative activities and creative consumption that does not leave durable traces. The proposed effect of mortality salience is observed only when individuals possess a low level of chronic afterlife belief. Unexpectedly, interest in creative consumption is reduced under mortality salience. Consistent with study 1, study 2 finds that under mortality salience, weakened afterlife belief raises interest in creation-oriented consumption. Study 3 replicates the finding of study 2 that mortality salience dampens general interest in creativity. Taken together, these studies suggest that although creation-oriented consumption ameliorates existential anxiety, it is not the most effective one in the short term.Apart from the major hypotheses, this dissertation also investigates some boundary conditions. Two of the three studies find that the question of whether creative consumption leaves a durable trace is of significance.

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This research applied insights from terror management theory (TMT; Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986) to the world of sport. According to TMT, self-esteem buffers against the potential for death anxiety. Because sport allows people to attain self-esteem, reminders of death may improve performance in sport. In Study 1, a mortality salience induction led to improved performance in a “one-on-one” basketball game. In Study 2, a subtle death prime led to higher scores on a basketball shooting task, which was associated with increased task-related self-esteem. These results may promote our understanding of sport and provide a novel potential way to improve athletic performance.

Terror management theory suggests that the fear of death is ubiquitous. Only recently has death been examined as something potentially interesting from this framework, and specifically, to individuals high in trait openness (Boyd, Morris, & Goldenberg, 2017). This research, however, did not clearly delineate if participants were actually becoming interested in death. My studies address this ambiguity by examining what high openness individuals are becoming interested in and if the way death is construed impacts interest. Study 1 tested if in addition to becoming more generally interested, high openness individuals become interested in death per se following mortality salience (relative to a control), as Boyd et al. (2017) speculated. Analyses revealed that individuals high in experiential openness only became more interested in death if the death interest measure came after a scale of general interest (i.e., after a longer delay). In contrast to predictions, individuals high in general openness did not exhibit these effects. In Study 2, I hypothesized that high openness individuals would become more interested in art and philosophy following mortality salience (relative to a control) because of the relevance of these domains to openness. This hypothesis was not supported. In Study 3, I tested if highlighting death’s experiential or intellectual qualities would increase general interest and subsequently decrease death anxiety, depending on if one’s unique brand of openness valued such qualities. Only when death was construed of in an experiential manner (relative to a control) did individuals high in experiential openness become more generally interested, and unexpectedly, more anxious about death. Together these studies demonstrate that the aspect of openness related to valuing experience can actually increase one’s interest in death, and when death is construed in a way that corresponds with this type of openness, general interest also increases.

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This study examined portrayals of terrorists in several action films and their effects on participants' thoughts concerning the films and their characters. A 2 x 2 x 2 factorial experiment was used to test the effects of antagonist ethnicity (white or non-white), antagonist portrayal type (sympathetic or non-sympathetic), and mortality salience (treatment or control) on narrative transportation, attitude toward the antagonist, attitude toward the video, stereotype endorsement, and response time for attitude toward the antagonist. Gender differences were also investigated.Participants viewed one 15-minute clip from an action film that manipulated antagonist ethnicity and antagonist portrayal. Then, participants answered several questionnaires surrounding the previously mentioned dependent variables. White terrorists and sympathetic portrayals were preferred over non-white terrorists and non-sympathetic portrayals. Participants in the mortality salience control condition evaluated Arabs more favorably than those exposed to the mortality salience treatment. In addition, males rated antagonists more favorably than females, and males were also less likely to engage in stereotyping of Arabs and African Americans. Implications for theory and suggestions for future research were discussed. / Master of Arts

This pre-test, post- test experiment examined the effects of mortality salience, frames of the military and military personnel, and regulatory focus on viewer attitudes toward the military, support for the military, and their perceptions of military personnel's criminal behavior. Participants viewed a short video clip from an episode of NCIS which contained either a sympathetic or non-sympathetic frame of the military and, in the treatment condition, a mortality salience reminder. Frame (sympathetic or non-sympathetic) had a significant effect on participant attitudes toward the military in the control condition when there was no mortality salience reminder present in the video clip. However, when participants' mortality was made salient, attitudes and support for the military did not change. Theoretical and practical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. / Master of Arts

Research on existential mortality fears has indicated that death reminders impact individuals at the cognitive and behavioral levels. One way people cope with this threat is through cherishing cultural values that provide life with meaning. However, little research has explored how death reminders impact cultural standards regarding gender. These cultural values often manifest through various means by male and female groups. Guided by terror management theory, which posits that people address threats to their existence by engaging in culturally-sanctioned behaviors to enhance their self-esteem, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of mortality salience (MS) on male participants' propensity for sexism and attitudes towards those with atypical gender stereotypes. Participants (n = 136) were recruited from courses at a local university and were selected based on the assumption that they had been exposed to media depicting death-related events. A quantitative research design was used to examine differences between the experimental MS and control pain salience conditions, and to assess effect sizes. Results from a MANOVA indicated that MS was associated with significantly higher sexism scores (F = 15.322, p < .001) as measured by the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, and with less favorable ratings of peers (as measured by a common opinion rating scale used in previous research in this area) who violated traditional gender stereotypes (F = 13.459, p < .001). The findings imply existential threats may contribute to negative stereotyping based on gender and enhance conservative views of gender stereotypes. Implications for social change are discussed involving the reduction of intolerance and prejudice directed at those who hold opposing worldviews.