Paper Title
Self-regulatory processes defend against the threat of death: Effects of self-control depletion and trait self-control on thoughts and fears of dying.
Keywords
- Self-regulation
- Self-control
- Death Anxiety
- Mortality Salience
- Trait Self-control
- State Self-control
- Death-related Thoughts
- Worldview Defense
- Self-regulatory Fatigue
- Coping Mechanisms
- Death Priming
- Intrapsychic Mechanism
- Death-related Themes
- Self-regulation Depletion
- Thoughts of Dying
- Coping with Mortality
Research Impact Tools
Publication Info
Volume: 91 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 49–62
Published On
July, 2006
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Abstract
Nine studies (N = 979) demonstrated that managing the threat of death requires self-regulation. Both trait and state self-control ability moderated the degree to which people experienced death-related thought and anxiety. Participants high (vs. low) in self-control generated fewer death-related thoughts after being primed with death, reported less death anxiety, were less likely to perceive death-related themes in ambiguous scenes, and reacted with less worldview defense when mortality was made salient. Further, coping with thoughts of death led to self-regulatory fatigue. After writing about death versus a control topic, participants performed worse on several measures of self-regulation that were irrelevant to death. These results suggest that self-regulation is a key intrapsychic mechanism for alleviating troublesome thoughts and feelings about mortality. (APA PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
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