Over the last 30 years, Terror Management Theory (TMT) has been applied in over 500 studies. However, the bulk of literature in TMT remains from Western countries, where death may not take as an explicit role in one’s life as it does in other areas prone to high death exposure. The purpose of this study stems from a need to explore the impact of death on outgroup prejudice in Lebanon, where 18 sects divide and pit citizens against one another not just through physical conflict but also through inflammatory media rhetoric. Taking TMT as a theoretical basis, the research proposed a mixed methodological application, and advanced three hypotheses and one research question. In Study 1, 105 Lebanese undergraduate students were recruited across the country for a quasi-experiment mimicking TMT’s traditional protocol. Data showed that participants were more likely to get news from the outlet that reinforced their religious worldview, especially when they identify with it. However, threat to one’s ingroup manipulated through a terrorism news story – did not predict sectarianism nor did the mortality salience induction method. Independently, proximity to the attack and sect partially explain outgroup prejudice. In Study 2, ten in-depth interviews were conducted between December and January 2018, yielding four a priori themes. The results suggest that in high death exposure areas, such as in Lebanon, TMT’s protocol may not be the adequate method to understand outgroup prejudice. This may be due to death desensitization. / A Thesis submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester 2018. / April 9, 2018. / experiment, in-depth interviews, Lebanon, mortality salience, terrorism news, terror management theory / Includes bibliographical references. / Patrick F. Merle, Professor Directing Thesis; Laura Arpan, Committee Member; Arthur A. Raney, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_653408 |
| Contributors | El Masri, Azza (author), Merle, Patrick F (professor directing thesis), Arpan, Laura M. (committee member), Raney, Arthur A. (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Communication and Information (degree granting college), School of Communication (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, master thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (100 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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