Mortality Salience and Self-Stereotyping

Abstract

Terror Management Theory (TMT) suggests that when individuals are confronted with mortality salience, a variety of behaviors, social attitudes and cognitions are affected. In situations of human vulnerability, an individual’s cultural worldviews can be used as a buffer against anxiety. According to TMT, if one’s values are shared with the majority, one can manage terror and anxiety. As a result, mortality salience can influence behaviors that are not related to the problem of death, including interpersonal group evaluations, in-group bias, stereotyping, and conformity to personal and cultural standards.