The will to will: The effects of neuroticism and mortality salience on perceptions of free will and reactions to infringement of freedom.
Item
-
Title
-
The will to will: The effects of neuroticism and mortality salience on perceptions of free will and reactions to infringement of freedom.
-
Identifier
-
AAI3296939
-
identifier
-
3296939
-
Creator
-
Margolis, Avrohom.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Sheldon Solomon
-
Date
-
2008
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Psychology, Clinical | Psychology, Social
-
Abstract
-
Terror management theory (TMT; Greenberg, Pyszczynski and Solomon, 1986; Greenberg, Solomon and Pyszczynski, 1997; Solomon, Greenberg and Pyszczynski, 1991a, 1991b) posits that cultural worldviews and self-esteem serve to manage the potential terror produced by the uniquely human awareness of death. Empirical support for TMT has been obtained in several hundred studies demonstrating that reminders of death instigate efforts to bolster faith in the cultural worldview and fortify self-esteem. The current studies extend this line of inquiry to the perception of ontological selfhood. Study 1 was conducted to test the hypothesis that following a mortality salience induction, individuals low in neuroticism would increase their perception of free-will, while high neurotics would decrease their perception thereof. Findings were in accord with predictions for low, but not high neurotics. A second study was then conducted to test the hypothesis that psychological reactance would be increased in response to a reminder of death, at least for relatively non-neurotic individuals. However, this hypothesis could not be tested because we failed to produce a basic reactance effect. Implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations for future research are proffered.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
