Pyszczynski, Greenberg, and Solomon present fresh and interesting approach to human motivation. Their article could be viewed as the first serious attempt that social psychologists have made to incorporate the issue of death into the mainstream of the explanation of human behavior. Since the early writings of Carl Jung and some of the existential philosophers and psychologists (e.g., Frankl, 1959/1963; Heidegger, 1927/1962; Jung, 1934/1959), social psychology usually overlooks the cognitive and emotional meaning and the motivational function of the encounter with death. One may wonder whether this attitude was the result of cognitive-emotional barrier that social psychologists build against the threat of their own mortality, or the product of the development of mini-theories that encompass only narrow and particular social motives, neglecting the issues of life and death. At least for these reasons, Pyszczynski et al.'s attempt to provide precursory answer to the basic question of why we need what we need and to bring together the biological need of self-preservation and the psychological awareness of finite human existence should be commended. The terror management perspective also makes an important contribution to the study of the psychological encounter with death. Careful analysis of the historical development in this broad area of theory and research reveals that the most salient trend during the last four decades-thanatos psychology-mainly focuses on the inquiry of the complex nature of human fear of death as dependent variable that might be influenced by large array of psychological and sociological factors (e.g., Kastenbaum, 1992; Neimeyer, 1994). However, little attention was paid to the encounter with death as an independent variable that could have broad repercussions to wide variety of social attitudes, cognitions, and behaviors. Terror management theory (TMT) can be viewed as the first systematic attempt to provide theoretical framework for studying cognitive and behavioral effects of the salience of one's own vulnerability and eventual mortality. Moreover, this theory formulates specific predictions that have been parsimoniously tested and supported in series of laboratory and field studies (e.g., Greenberg, Simon, Pyszczynski, Solomon, & Chatel, 1992). In reviewing Pyszczynski et al.'s article, three levels of analysis can be proposed. First, one could argue with their propositions that self-preservation is the superordinate goal toward which all behavior is oriented and that it is facilitated by three basic motive systems-biological, defensive, and expansive. Second, one could discuss the implied interrelations among the three basic motive systems and their functions in the context of human awareness of one's own mortality. Third, one could debate the authors' assertion that a wide variety of social motives can be viewed as serving terror management function. In our commentary, we focus on the second level of analysis. Our main interest is in the possible effects of mortality awareness on the aforementioned basic motive systems, because we believe that such an examination can build bridge between TMT and the knowledge coined by thanatos psychology about the complex nature of the encounter with death. In the opinion of Pyszczynski et al., it seems likely that the symbolic or direct encounter with death is monolithic phenomenon, which leads only to the arousal of defensive motives. This encounter is hypothesized to lead people to defend themselves against the threat of death by assuming conservative and egotistic attitude toward life, which could be manifested in attempts to conform with cultural norms and worldviews, to glorify the societal status quo, to enhance public self-esteem, and to maintain stable and consistent view of the self and the world. However, one may wonder if this is what we exclusively need in facing the awareness of one's own mortality. If this is the case, every encounter with death should impede change, growth, or any other kind of positive transformation. In extreme cases, it could lead to the maintainance and enhancement of societal norms that disempower the individual and restrict his or her freedom of choice. Moreover, it is implied here that people cannot attain any advantage from being aware of their own natural destiny and that they can deny it or live under permanent terror that can be managed only through changepreventing mechanisms. In adopting this view, it seems that TMT disregards the existence of the alternative impact that the awareness of one' s own death may have on what the authors call self-expansive motives. Although Pyszczynski et al. mention the self-preservation function of self-expansive motives, they believe that there is less of sense
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Sep 18, 2009
Jochim Hansen + 2
