Committee Chair

Hood, Ralph W., Jr., 1942-

Committee Member

Chesser, Svetlana; Ross, David F.

Department

Dept. of Psychology

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

According to Terror Management Theory, when mortality is made salient the potential to experience terror causes powerful worldview defenses to manifest to suppress this potential. Recently, however, the theory has been criticized because no actual evidence has been found to show this potential to experience terror. The current research used Galvanic Skin Response and a battery of self-report measures (e.g. negative affect, stress, fear, distress, etc.) to attempt to provide evidence of potential terror. The results were partially confirmatory suggesting that although mortality salience failed to evoke arousal, negative affect, and stress, it did evoke sadness and distress and suggests that terror is a highly complex combination of multiple negative components as well as physiological arousal. Interpretations and explanations of these results are discussed in accordance with previous Terror Management research.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my thesis committee, Dr. Ralph W. Hood Jr., Dr. David F. Ross, and Dr. Svetlana Chesser, for their never-ending support, guidance, and warmth during my time at UTC. I have never had the privilege and honor to work with such amazing people. I would also like to thank the entire faculty of the UTC Research Psychology Program for the opportunity to learn and grow under some of the best I’ve ever met. I must thank Tommy Coleman and Sally Swanson for their willingness to put up with my “crazy terror management theories.” Finally, I would like to thank my friends, family, and cohort who keep me grounded and supported me as I worked through my degree.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

5-2016

Subject

Fear of death -- Psychological aspects

Keyword

Terror Management Theory; Arousal; Fear; Death

Discipline

Psychology

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

xi, 40 leaves

Language

English

Rights

https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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