Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski and Sheldon Solomon developed terror management theory in 1986, building directly on cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker's 1973 Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Denial of Death. Becker had argued that much human action is organized around managing an underlying terror of mortality; the psychologists translated that claim into a testable theory of self-esteem and cultural belief.
Facts
Core ClaimHumans manage the anxiety of knowing death is inevitable by investing in cultural worldviews and self-esteem that supply symbolic meaning and a sense of significance or permanence beyond the body's own end. 1 Connections
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Becker supplied the founding conceptual claim; Greenberg, Pyszczynski and Solomon formalized it as a testable psychological theory in 1986.
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1. Wikipedia: Terror Management Theory
Wikimedia FoundationOverviewQuote, Overview
Terror management theory (TMT) is a theory in social and evolutionary psychology which proposes a basic psychological conflict stemming from two competing facts of human existence: the instinct for self-preservation, and the realization that death is inevitable and to some extent unpredictable.
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