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Testing the causal relationship between religious belief and death anxiety
[journal article]
Abstract Religion has long been speculated to function as a strategy to ameliorate our fear of death. Terror management theory provides two possible causal pathways through which religious beliefs can fulfil this function. According to the "worldview defence" account of terror management, worldviews reduce d... view more
Religion has long been speculated to function as a strategy to ameliorate our fear of death. Terror management theory provides two possible causal pathways through which religious beliefs can fulfil this function. According to the "worldview defence" account of terror management, worldviews reduce death anxiety by offering symbolic immortality: on this view, only people who accept the religious worldview in question should benefit from religious beliefs. Alternatively, religious worldviews also offer literal immortality, and may do so independently of individuals’ worldviews. Both strands of thought appear in the terror management theory literature. In this paper, we attempt to resolve this issue experimentally by manipulating religious belief and measuring explicit (Study 1) and implicit (Study 2) death anxiety. In Study 1, we found that the effect of religious belief on explicit death anxiety depends critically on participants' own religious worldviews, such that believers and non-believers reported greater death anxiety when their worldview is threatened. In Study 2, however, we find that religious belief alleviates implicit death anxiety amongst both believers and non-believers. These findings suggest that religious beliefs can alleviate death anxiety at two different levels, by offering symbolic and literal immortality, respectively.... view less
Keywords
death; dying; anxiety; religiousness; faith; worldview; self-esteem
Classification
General Psychology
Social Psychology
Free Keywords
Terror management theory; death anxiety; implicit measures; unconscious emotion
Document language
English
Publication Year
2018
Page/Pages
p. 57-68
Journal
Religion, Brain & Behavior, 8 (2018) 1
Issue topic
Terror Management Theory
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2016.1238842
ISSN
2153-5981
Status
Postprint; peer reviewed
Licence
Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications