Three social psychologists namely Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon and Tom Pyszczynski developed a social psychological theory known as Terror Management Theory (TMT) in 1986. The theory was ideally based on the ideas of Ernest Becker in which he proposed that how human beings behave is directly related to the plight of their existence, i.e. fear of death.According to TMT, human beings are unique in their capacity to think in a symbolic manner, where they are able to foster self-awareness, as well as the ability to reflect upon both the past and the future. This therefore brings about a conflict between two aspects of human life; biological natural inclination for survival and the awareness that death is inevitable. This consequently calls forth for the realization that death cannot be avoided, and it can occur at any given time for unexpected reasons that cannot be controlled. It is this knowledge that has been associated with the overwhelming feelings of terror that human beings have; literally described as “annihilation anxiety” by Berker (Solomon, 2017).
TMT therefore emphasizes on the importance of management of this anxiety. The central idea that is defined by TMT is cultural worldviews, i.e. “shared conceptions of reality”. In light of this argument, individuals have tried to buffer this anxiety through use of two ideologies; worldview and self-esteem. Through cultural worldviews, people are able to establish their existential purpose, understand how to appropriately behave, and learn that physical death can be transcended through symbolic and literal immortality. Symbolic immortality is accomplished through life contributions that live beyond ones death. Literal immortality involves the belief that religious people possess about life after death. Consequently, the feeling that one has met certain laid out cultural standards brings about a sense of self-esteem, which basically buffers the above named anxiety. According to this theory, human beings are motivated to live a life that involves creation of close relationships within their cultural groups, which helps them feel immortal, and hence create a sense of immortality after their inevitable death.
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In November 2015, a series of terrorist attacks involving bombings and shootingstook place in Paris, wounding 352 people and causing the death of 130 people.Several city settings were attacked including bars, restaurants, a music venue and a football match venue. They were the deadliest attacks in French history since the Second World War. Such terror attacks are associated with consequent hostility, prejudice and intolerance towards dissimilar others. After any terror attack, survivors need to cope and survive. The development of TMT over 20 years ago has greatly influenced the comprehension of how people cope with threats such as terrorism. Being aware of one’s mortality is part of being a human being, this consequently brings about a certain anxiety that needs to be managed. Numerous studies with regards to TMT have been conducted, all of which are consistent with the fact that reminding people of their death lead to strivings for self-worth as well as bolstering of an individual’s worldview (Solomon, 2017). For instance, as cited in a study conducted by Nugier et al. (2016), reminding people of terrorists’ attack can be compared to mortality salience induction.
TMT suggests that when people face life threatening situations, psychologically relevant cultural values and beliefs are capable of offsetting weakening effects of awareness of death.Moreover, people view terror events as situations that basically bring their thoughts closer to death. The ultimate result of this is that the survivors of the terror event will be more oriented to side with the people with whom they share certain cultural aspects with while in opposition with those who do not. Such situations activate feelings that determine how people tolerate each other. Most of the survivors of this terror event were French nationals. The France cultural world views exist in the form of two dimension; colorblind equality, which suggests hat all French nationals are equal citizens and should therefore not be categorized in terms of racial, ethnic or religious groups (Solomon, 2017). The second dimension defines religion as a private matter. Considering the colorblind equality dimension, French nationals are highly unlikely to discriminate certain people due feelings of threat.This aspect can be effectively associated with greater tolerance and consequently improved recovery from terror threats. Therefore, social, cognitive, cultural and intellectual factors have a great effect on the survivors’ coping and recovery since these affect how people think about one another (intellectual), and how they view the threat that a particular person poses to them (social). Several studies have been conducted with the aim of establishing the health outcomes that these factors have on recovery of terror victims.
When compared to self-determination theory, TMT is theoretically incoherent because of the fact that it focuses on death as a motivation towards individual growth. This idea basically goes against the natural intrinsic motivation that human beings have due to being alive and healthy. Self-determination theory on the other hand suggests that motivation begins in childhood, a period during which a child has no self-awareness about death. Extrinsic motivation drives people to behave in a certain way. Rather than reminding people of death, it is much better to remind them of their intrinsic motivations that should help them keep surviving even in the wake of terror events. Rather than being driven by death, self-determination is all about self-motivation.The basic tenets of this theory are; human beings are inherently proactive, have an inherent tendency towards growth development and optimal development of oneself through certain actions that are inherent in humans. In light of these tenets, this theory is therefore more suitable for rationalizing the thoughts of terror survivors since human beings have a natural tendency oriented towards self-achievement (Bouffard & Ryan, 2017).
References
Bouffard, L. &Ryan, R. M. (2017). Self-determination theory. Basic psychological needs in motivation, development and wellness. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Revue Québécoise de psychologie , 38 (3), 231. doi:10.7202/1041847ar
Nugier, A., Roebroeck, E., Anier, N., Kleinlogel, E. P., Chatard, A., & Guimond, S. (2016). The Psychological Effects of Terrorism Are Moderated by Cultural Worldviews [Les Effets Psychologiques du Terrorisme sont Modérés par les Normes Culturelles]. International Review of Social Psychology , 29 (1), 77. doi:10.5334/irsp.61
Solomon, S. (2017). Terror Management Theory. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory , 1-2. doi:10.1002/9781118430873.est0813
