Citation

McCabe S, Vail KE, Arndt J. Br. J. Soc. Psychol. 2018; 57(1): 174-188.

Affiliation

University of Missouri - Columbia, Missouri, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Wiley Blackwell)

DOI

10.1111/bjso.12227

PMID

29082532

Abstract

People seem to have a tendency to increase the relative size of self-representational objects. Prior research suggests that motivational factors may fuel that tendency, so the present research built from terror management theory to examine whether existential motivations - engendered by concerns about death - may have similar implications for self-relevant size biases. Specifically, across two studies (total N = 288), we hypothesized that reminders of death would lead participants to inflate the size of self-representational objects. Both studies suggested that relative to reminders of pain, mortality salience led participants to construct larger clay sculptures of themselves (vs. others; Study 1) and a larger ostensible video game avatar for the self (vs. others; Study 2).

© 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Language: en

Keywords

mortality salience; self-representation; size bias; terror management theory