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In two essays I investigate two antecedents of self-concept change in consumers: Threats to the self and the activated self-construal and its effect on goal conflict resolution. In the first essay, I explore identity strictly as consumers define themselves in terms of the possessions with which they associate. I argue that ironically the very effort to maintain self-consistency through living up to the value of materialism after facing a mortality salience threat can actually undermine consistency on the level of the extended self of highly materialistic consumers. Specifically, when faced with a mortality salience threat, the consistency of highly materialistic consumers self-concept is disrupted in which they not only detach from formerly intrinsic possessions, but also make formerly extrinsic possessions a more central part of the extended self-concept. I further argue that consumers can be protected from a disruption to self-concept consistency through the process of self-affirmation. In the second essay, I explore how the activated self-construal impacts whether consumers maximize pleasure or engage in self-presentational behavior after they have been invited to choose a gift for themselves. I demonstrate that consumers with an independent (interdependent) self-construal make more indulgent (modest) gift choices for themselves, and that this effect is driven by the activation of a goal to maximize pleasure (behave normatively appropriate). I also identify a boundary condition: When consumers are able to satisfy their activated goal before selecting a gift, the effects cease to exist. / Marketing

The aim of the present research was to investigate the issue of loss anxiety within the framework of disability and terror management theory. A questionnaire package was administered to 217 participants twice to examine the effects of mortality salience and disability salience. Besides mortality salience, paralysis salience was found to be effective. Highly conservative participants were becoming more conservative in the paralysis salience and mortality salience conditions. Content analysis was also conducted relating the participants&rsquo / accounts. It was concluded that death and disability were both inducing sadness for the participants. However, this sadness experience could have two different formats. The relation between experimental manipulations and global sadness accounts was not significant. However, the relationship between experimental manipulations and individual sadness accounts was significant. Participants in the mortality salience condition were experiencing less individual sadness than expected. In contrast, participants in the paralysis salience condition were experiencing more individual sadness than expected. It is concluded that death may not be the one and only fundamental fear as terror management theory suggests. Disability might be as fearful as death. A theoretical model is proposed for the alternative experimental manipulation in terror management theory studies. According to this conceptualization, an experimental manipulation could be successful if it satisfies the following three conditions: moderately fearful, highly imaginable/easily available and highly self-relevant. Any kind of loss which satisfies these conditions might result in cultural worldview defense. The threatening nature of disability might provide one more reason relating the importance of a disability-friendly environment.

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Terror management theory predicts that when people are reminded of their own mortality (mortality salience), they cling more strongly to cultural worldviews which provide them with a sense of security (Greenberg et al., 1986). For some people, this reaction to mortality salience also involves derogation of, and discrimination against, “other” people and cultures. An increasing tendency towards sensationalism in the news media has resulted in even more frequent reminders of vulnerability and death (e.g., terrorism, violent crime, health and safety concerns). In two experiments involving 868 introductory psychology students, the present research examined the extent to which their (a) support for authoritarian social policies relevant to Canada and (b) authoritarian attitudes in general are influenced by mortality salience. Specifically, right-wing authoritarianism, attachment security, and political orientation were measured in participants in both experiments. Participants were then prompted to think about either their own mortality or about another aversive experience having nothing to do with mortality. Next, participants were asked their opinions regarding authoritarian social policies (Experiment 1) and beliefs indicative of right-wing authoritarianism (Experiment 2). Multiple regression, analysis of variance, and t-tests revealed that individuals with (a) high pre-existing right-wing authoritarian attitudes and (b) conservative political beliefs increased their support for authoritarian social policies following mortality salience (Experiment 1). In contrast, individuals with (a) high attachment security and (b) moderate political beliefs decreased their support for right-wing authoritarian beliefs following mortality salience (Experiment 2), although the former relationship only approached statistical significance. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the news media, for social policies and political opinions, and for social justice.

En psychologie sociale de la santé, l’analyse des dimensions psychologiques et sociales en jeu dans la construction des risques sanitaires constitue un enjeu à la fois théorique et pragmatique. En articulant le cadre théorique des représentations sociales (Apostolidis, 2006) et celui de la Terror Management Theory (TMT, Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 1991), la recherche proposée vise à étudier les liens entre l’induction d’un état d’anxiété et la mobilisation de raisonnements symboliques face au risque du sida. Quatre expériences ont été réalisées (N = 520, 221 hommes et 299 femmes, mâge = 21,1). Elles consistaient à rendre saillante l'idée de mortalité (versus un thème neutre) chez les sujets, puis à leur faire lire un scénario de relation sexuelle socialement normé (avec ou sans délai), et enfin, à leur demander d'évaluer la valence sentimentale de la relation décrite et le risque du sida lui étant associé. Les résultats montrent que le risque perçu varie en fonction de la valence sentimentale attribuée, qui elle-même varie en fonction du facteur délai. Ce fonctionnement sociocognitif est par ailleurs modulé par le sexe des participants, et par l'induction expérimentale : d'une manière générale, le délai est davantage valorisé par les femmes et par les sujets de la condition « mortalité », sauf en cas de convictions religieuses ou spirituelles. Les principaux résultats corroborent ainsi ceux de la littérature consacrée à la TMT. Nous les discuterons dans la perspective théorique des représentations sociales et nous poserons leur implication par rapport à la prévention du risque du sida. / In social psychology of health, the analysis of psychological and social dimensions involved in health risks construction represents a major both theoretical and pragmatic issue. The current research proposes to articulate the social representations approach (Apostolidis, 2006) and the Terror Management Theory (Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 1991) in order to study the links between an induced state anxiety and the mobilization of symbolic reasoning concerning HIV risk perception. In our four experiments (N = 520, 221 men and 299 women, age mean = 21.1), after death thoughts (versus a neutral theme) were made salient, participants were asked to read a socially normed sexual relationship script (with or without “delay”), and then were asked to evaluate the sentimental valence of the relationship described and the HIV risks associated with it. Results showed that perceived risks depend on the sentimental valence attributed, which itself depends on the “delay” factor. This sociocognitive functioning is also modulated by gender, and by experimental inductions : in general, waiting before having sexual intercourse is more valued by women and by mortality salience condition participants, except when they have religious or spiritual beliefs. Our main results thus support those derived from TMT. These findings are discussed in a social representations perspective, and their practical implications are examined in relation to HIV risk preventive actions.

This dissertation contributes to post-war public opinion research by examining the perceptions of migrants – the gastarbeiter, the refugee, the family reunited after war – and the local population in comparative perspective. Existing surveys of post-war populations are typically conducted in a single country affected by war. However, particularly following forced expulsion and campaigns of ethnic cleansing substantial portions of national communities affected by conflict no longer live within the boundaries of the state. Current research may therefore overlook important populations as well as contextual factors that shape post-war attitudes. I help to address this problem by examining three widely held assumptions in the literature: that migrants hold more conflictive attitudes than the local population after war; that assimilation in settlement countries leads migrants to hold more peaceful attitudes; and that traumatic experiences lead migrants to hold more conflictive attitudes. These claims are largely based on theoretical accounts, case studies that suffer from selection bias and quantitative results that have proven unstable. By contrast, I examine new micro-level data: two large-scale surveys conducted simultaneously in post-war Bosnia and Sweden as a settlement country. Sweden’s choice to grant permanent residency in toto to refugees from the Bosnian War in 1993 resulted in the vast majority remaining settled in Sweden. As a result, the population of ex-Yugoslavs in Sweden is arguably more representative than in other comparable settlement country contexts. To explain differences among ex-Yugoslavs in Sweden and between these migrants and the local population in Bosnia, I connect social-psychological processes that help meet individuals’ basic psychological needs. These include: belief formation in the context of war; acculturation strategies in settlement countries; the development of nostalgic memories; and coping with traumatic experiences. The findings shed light on largely misunderstood processes. Under certain conditions, migration may provide an exit from detrimental wartime and post-war settings that produce and sustain conflictive societal beliefs after war. At the same time, the migration context may provide a richer set of socioeconomic and psychological resources for coping, offsetting the need to rely on conflictive beliefs as a way of dealing with the conflict crisis.

In this research four models derived from Terror Management Theory (TMT) were tested by using structural equation modeling.. These models were developed for testing different theoretical alternatives in relation to psychological mechanisms explaining the subjective well-being as an outcome of fear of death. The first two models were based on the original Terror Management Theory. The first supposed that death anxiety as a catalyst motivates individuals in two defenses: developing culturally committed personalities by validation of cultural worldview and thus enhancing self-esteem. The second indicated that every individual had two options in the face of death: enhancing their self-esteem or committing to cultural worldview, in turn, improves the well-being of the individual. The last two models were identified by taking attachment as an alternative variable. In the third model, attachment styles of the individuals were presented as a third defense mechanism in addition to self-esteem and cultural worldview in TMT. They were assumed as mediator variables in the model between fear of death and subjective well-being. The last model treated attachment as a mediator between fear of death and distal defenses of self-esteem and cultural worldview. The results indicated that only the last model was entirely supported.. The lack of support for the first two models might be an indicator of the invalidity of the model in cultures that are not individualistic. For the last two models, the results suggested that attachment was crucial in understanding the relationship between fear of death and subjective well-being from a TMT perspective.

根據恐懼管理理論（Terror Management Theory, 1986）人們會適時地管理死亡想法的威脅，故Pyszczynski、Greenberg及Solomon（1999）依據此理論提出了一套雙元歷程模式來解釋人們的防衛方式：近端防衛與遠端防衛。在遠端防衛中文化世界觀尤為重要，在過去的西方研究之中，發現人們常以對自身文化世界觀持正向或偏好的態度，來防衛死亡想法的威脅；然而這樣的現象卻在亞洲研究中難以得到驗證，因此本研究的目的即在於重新檢驗文化世界觀的防衛方式。本研究操弄參與者的死亡想法，並藉由分心作業的方式，使其死亡想法掉入意識邊陲之中，以探究遠端防衛的本質。本研究除了以偏好的評估作為依變項外，且從認知的注意力面向出發，探討文化世界觀與防衛死亡想法之間的關係。本研究設計兩個實驗：實驗一以視覺搜尋作業的派典進行研究，以對自身文化的偏好、正確率與反應時間當作依變項。結果發現當參與者進行遠端防衛時，會對於與自身文化有關的線索，表現出較高的正確率，但在對自身文化的偏好，與反應時間的變項上，未能發現有顯著差異。實驗二以眼動追蹤儀器當作研究工具，並以眼動指標中首次凝視位置的數量，以及凝視時間作為依變項。結果發現當參與者進行遠端防衛時，會對於與自身文化有關的線索，表現出較長的凝視時間，但在首次凝視位置的數量上，亦未能發現有顯著差異。因此，綜合以上兩個實驗，本研究並未能完全支持文化世界觀的遠端防衛效果。 / According to terror management theory (1986), people can manage the threat from death thought. Thus, Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon (1999) proposed a dual-process model to explain how people defend the death. There are two defense routes: the proximal defense and the distal defense. The culture-worldview is an important function in the distal defense. In the western research, it was found that people were more positive or preferred to self-culture-worldview. However, there are mixed findings in the eastern research. In order to investigate the distal defense mechanism, this study manipulated participants’ death thought, and let the thought drop into the unconscious level via a distracting task. Furthermore, this study examined the relationship between the culture-worldview and the death defense from attentional paradigms. We conducted two experiments. In the first experiment, we adopted the visual search paradigm, and the dependent variables were self-cultural preference, reaction time and the rate of accuracy. We found it was more accurate when participants were asked to search the self-related cultural cue after reminding one’s death comparing to those are not reminding about death. But they were no significant difference in the self-cultural preference and reaction time. In the second experiment, we adopted the eye-tracker as the instrument, and the dependent variables were the index of number of first fixation and the duration of fixations. We found the fixation duration was longer for the self-related cultural cues than for the non-self-related cultural cues when participants being reminded about one’s death. But it was no significant difference in the number of first fixation. So, through these two experiments we found an inconsistent result in the distal defense.

Cette recherche s’intéresse à l’efficacité des registres communicationnels actuels dans une perspective de mobilisation des consommateurs dans la sobriété carbone. Afin d’examiner l’efficacité de ces registres, quatre études ont été menées, i.e. une « méthode-Q » et trois expérimentations. Les deux premières études visent à explorer le rôle des représentations visuelles (i.e. images) et linguistiques (i.e. contenus sémantiques) utilisées pour désigner le changement climatique dans la transmission des préoccupations, des perceptions et des intentions envers la décarbonisation. La troisième étude cherche à expliquer l’effet de l’exploitation de la saillance de mortalité dans ces registres (i.e., anxiogènes vs. informatives) sur les choix de consommation pro-environnementaux (vs. pro-matérialistes). La dernière étude cherche à confirmer qu’une saillance de mortalité, quel que soit son origine (e.g. le changement climatique ou les attaques terroristes) est générateur en majorité des choix de consommation pro-matérialistes (vs. pro-environnementaux). En s’appuyant sur les résultats des ces études, nous mettons en lumière, tout d’abord, la nécessité de modifier ces registres afin de réduire leurs effets négatifs et/ou contreproductifs. Ensuite, la nécessité d’adopter une stratégie de segmentation de la communication selon la vision culturelle du monde dominante des individus pour les engager dans une lutte effective contre le changement climatique. / This research focuses on the effectiveness of climate change communications in order to engage the consumer behaviour in carbon sobriety. To examine this effectiveness, four studies were carried out, i.e., a “Q-method” research and three experiments. The first two studies aim to explore the role of visual representation of climate change and semantic expressions, used to describe this phenomenon in conveying perceptions and attitudes towards decarbonisation. The third study aims to explain the impact of the type of communication (anxiety induced vs. informative) on consumption choices (pro-materialistic vs. pro-environmental). The last study seeks to confirm that mortality salience, whatever its origin is (e.g., climate change or terrorist attacks), generates mostly pro-materialistic consumption choices (vs. pro-environmental). Based on the results of these studies, we highlight, firstly, the necessity to modify these registers in order to reduce their negative and/or counterproductive effects. Secondly, the necessity to adopt a segmentation strategy of communication according to the cultural worldviews of individuals to engage them in an effective fight against the climate changes.