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Foundation of Terror Management Theory (TMT)
Before delving into Terror Management Theory it is important to precede by discussing Ernest Becker’s ‘The Denial of Death’ (1973), as it is a founding work for the theory at hand. Ernest Becker was an American anthropologist and in this book he argues that humans have an innate fear of death, death anxiety, which leads them to try and escape death itself through “culturally standardized hero systems and symbols.” We engage in the pursuit of “immortality projects” (also known as heroism projects, or causa sui) where we try to take part in culturally-related activities that we feel will last beyond our existence, giving our symbolic self a sense of significance to transcend the mortality of our physical self. Therefore, civilization can be described as a defense mechanism against the awareness of our own mortality. From this, Becker argues that we can understand the causes of certain mental disorders, as they could involve an individual’s immortality project not working properly or having fallen apart, which causes the person to be confronted with their knowledge of mortality and feelings of insignificance. Becker also suggests that since our immortality projects are culturally-related, these will be unique and contrast with others. However, encountering a contradiction to your immortality project may be seen as a threat to one’s core and security, so these are also the foundation for the violence and prejudice seen around the world, particularly concerning religion.
What is Terror Management Theory (TMT)
Terror Management Theory (TMT) (1986) was developed by the social psychologists Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski and Sheldon Solomon stemming from Becker’s ideas, stating that what makes us different from other biologically living creatures is our capacity for symbolic thought which leads to self-awareness. However, this also causes us to realize the uncontrollable and inevitable arrival of our own mortality. This awareness creates a terror which is consequently managed by the construction of culturally-relevant beliefs about reality, that help us make our life feel meaningful. Self-esteem comes from meeting certain standards that make us feel significant, and by following certain standards we can feel symbolic immortality (such as through important achievements in life) or a sense of literal immortality (such as through religious ideas that include an afterlife or reincarnation). This is seen as an evolutionary trait as its development may have helped avoid threats and improved chances of survival. However, our attempts to manage our anxiety has consequences beyond survival in many fields of life such as influencing the structures we seek for, our prejudices against outgroups, politics, religion, human relations, creativity and psychopathology. In fact, studies such as that by Greenberg and Kosloff (2008) have shown that when heightening an individual’s mortality salience by reminding them of death, the processes of prejudice and stereotyping increase, as well as the support for charismatic leaders and acceptance of aggression against what is perceived as the outgroup.
Application of TMT, the Anxiety Buffer Disruption Theory
Anxiety Buffer Disruption Theory (ABDT) is an application of Terror Management Theory (TMT) to account for psychopathologies and symptoms following traumatic events, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. During normal functioning, anxiety buffering mechanisms protect the individual from death anxiety, as well as anxiety in general. If these mechanisms are disrupted, the individual is overwhelmed by anxiety, causing PTSD symptoms such as re-experiencing, hyper-arousal and avoidance. Furthermore, this disruption also changes the way people respond to increased mortality salience, as people experiencing PTSD symptoms will not have the same defensive reactions seen in people with functioning anxiety buffering mechanisms.
Criticisms and Alternatives to TMT
Terror Management Theory has its roots in important psychological works that contribute to the explanation of how individuals live in correspondence with themselves, their community and others. However, this theory has received criticisms questioning its evolutionary utility, but also due to numerous failed replications. One of the alternatives to Terror Management Theory is the Meaning Maintenance Model (MMM), which states that people need to view the world through mental representations of expectations that influence their perceptions. When the meanings they have in their mind are contradicted or threatened, for example through increased mortality salience, they will engage in “fluid compensation”, which is the reaffirmation of other accessible meaning frameworks that have not been disrupted. This is not because, as TMT would suggest, our need for meaning is an attempt to escape from our mortality, it is instead because humans are innate meaning makers. Therefore if we encounter inconsistencies we have a need to reconstruct our meaning framework.
Therefore, Terror Management Theory gives an insight into why we may respond in particular ways when we are faced with psychological threats such as mortality salience. However, there are numerous disagreements on its validity, so it is not a widely used theory. Nonetheless, it is an interesting take that makes us reflect on how we behave when faced with uncomfortable contradictions to what we hold as meaningful.
By Giulia Daccò Coppi
giulia.daccocoppi01@icatt.it
Bibliography
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A.P.E. 
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