Page 1 of 3

www.AssignmentPoint.com

Terror Management Theory

www.AssignmentPoint.com

In social psychology, terror management theory (TMT) proposes a

basic psychological conflict that results from having a desire to live

Page 2 of 3

www.AssignmentPoint.com

but realizing that death is inevitable. This conflict produces terror, and

is believed to be unique to human beings. Moreover, the solution to

the conflict is also generally unique to humans: culture. According to

TMT, cultures are symbolic systems that act to provide life with

meaning and value. Cultural values therefore serve to manage the

terror of death by providing life with meaning. The simplest examples

of cultural values that manage the terror of death are those that

purport to offer literal immortality. However, TMT also argues that

other cultural values – including those that are seemingly unrelated to

death offer symbolic immortality. For example, value of national

identity, posterity, cultural perspectives on sex, and human superiority

over animals have all been linked to death concerns in some manner.

In many cases these values are thought to offer symbolic immortality

by providing the sense that one is part of something greater that will

ultimately outlive the individual

Because cultural values determine that which is meaningful, they are

also the basis for self-esteem. TMT describes self-esteem as being the

personal, subjective measure of how well an individual is living up to

their cultural values. Like cultural values, self-esteem acts to protect

one against the terror of death. However, it functions to provide one's

personal life with meaning, while cultural values provide meaning to

life in general.

Page 3 of 3

www.AssignmentPoint.com

TMT is derived from anthropologist Ernest Becker's 1973 Pulitzer

Prize-winning work of nonfiction The Denial of Death, in which

Becker argues most human action is taken to ignore or avoid the

inevitability of death. The terror of absolute annihilation creates such

a profound albeit subconscious – anxiety in people that they spend

their lives attempting to make sense of it. On large scales, societies

build symbols: laws, religious meaning systems, cultures, and belief

systems to explain the significance of life, define what makes certain

characteristics, skills, and talents extraordinary, reward others whom

they find exemplify certain attributes, and punish or kill others who

do not adhere to their cultural worldview. On an individual level, self-

esteem provides a buffer against death related anxiety.