“…..Therefore, We are a death denying society.” My professor explained.
I stared at him while sitting in the front row. Grinning and giving him starry eyes.
I love my personality class. It gets better each day. When we learnt about terror management theory - my mind was blown. So much of the world started making sense. Now let me put some of that sense into you.
(Idk why but I have the urge to start every article with did you know. Anyhow.)
We are humans. We have a thing for survival. But we also have brains - very smart. We know that we are gonna die someday.
Need for survival vs Knowing that we are mortal = Existential Anxiety.
How do we deal with any anxiety? We find a coping mechanism. Our humanity is coping with this by denying death - Forgetting about it.
Now, the fun part is - when you are reminded about death, your behaviour can change to cope with the anxiety in different way.
All this Jazz is called Terror Management Theory.
There’s another fun part if your role model is Felonious Gru. When death becomes more noticeable by the news of accidents, illness or something else, it’s called Mortality Salience. Here are some of the scenarios that your behaviour can be changed using MS.
Peer Pressure 101. You’re insisting a group of friends to go to a concert (anything that gives immediate gratification) with you. But they wanna study instead. Here, you can remind them slightly how life is so short and hint about death - Conformity is likely.
Parenting 101. Your kid is past the age of 25. You wanna force them to marry? Remind them about death. You might have grandchildren by 27. (Most parents were taught in school, I guess)
Narcissism 101. Trying to make a loved one feel guilty for not doing their obligation or saying no to you. Play on their fear of loosing loved ones to death. They’ll feel guilty as hell.
You get the point right? If you wanna manipulate someone in a different scenario - ask chat gpt if it’s possible. She will tell you! Of course, if you manipulate someone, you will have negative consequences - KARMA 101.
Media uses MS a lot in cinema. Side note - I have seen a lot of memes about an Indian podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia how he reminds every single person on his show about death. I think, he is great to use Mortality Salience to get their deepest darkest secrets out of them. Ranveer’s like MS is my bitch! It’s funny - The irony. He’s using psychological ways to make celebrities talk more to get juice for the viewers but the naive audience is just making fun of him.
Did you know, Religion is also a coping mechanism for our existential anxiety with the explanations about afterlife, spiritual existence and Rebirth. It’s weird, the more I am learning about outside, the more religion is making sense for me.
TMT is the reason that people want to leave a legacy behind to gain a symbolic immortality. Our cultural worldview and self esteem also plays a big role in how much anxiety do we feel. There is so much more. So, if you wanna know more check out this article by Psych Central.
Take care of yourself.
Until next time.
XOXO
Arsh Kaur
You’ve taken a complex topic like terror management theory and mortality salience and made it not only understandable but also engaging and relatable. The use of humor throughout the piece makes it enjoyable to read, and the examples provided really drive home the concepts. I especially liked how they tied in the role of religion and the desire for legacy in coping with existential anxiety.