Uri Lifshin
Biographic Data
| ID | 86459 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Uri Lifshin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Uri |
| FAMILY NAME | Lifshin |
| SIGNATURE | LIFSHIN U |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Arizona |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1609-8666 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 20 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Paradoxical thinking and attitudes toward prostitution
Attitudes on socially consequential issues are often resistant to direct persuasion. Paradoxical thinking is a persuasion technique that presents exaggerated or absurd arguments for a position that may make people object to and reduce resistance to persuasion attempts. Across three preregistered experiments, we tested the effects of absurd paradoxical messages regarding attitudes toward prostitution. In Studies 1-2, paradoxical pro-prostitution m…
Beyond Religious Narcissistic Identification
Agnosticism and atheism are often grouped simply as nonreligious identities, yet emerging research highlights their distinct psychological profiles and social implications. Among these distinctions, collective narcissism – characterized by strong attachment to one’s group, exceptionalism, and grievance for recognition – offers a framework for understanding identity processes in both nonreligious groups. We examined whether agnostics and atheists …
I am not an animal—I am an American
Terror Management Theory suggests that cultural identities and worldviews allow people to mitigate existential concerns and distance themselves from other mortal animals. We theorized that individuals low in the perceived similarity of self to animals (PSSA) are more likely to invest in their ingroup cultural identities and have negative attitudes toward other cultures, especially after mortality salience (MS). Congruently, we found that particip…
Religiosity and Support for Killing Animals
The relationship between religiosity and attitudes toward animals is complex: They can relate positively, negatively, or not at all. Lifshin et al. (2018) theorized and found that this relationship may in fact be curvilinear, as moderate levels of religiosity relate to less support for killing animals compared to low religiosity (atheism) or to high religiosity (religious extremism or fundamentalism). In the current research we replicated these f…
Testing the underlying structure of unfounded beliefs about Covid-19 around the world
Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (…
Afterlife Beliefs, Life Extension and Gender
Purpose: This study investigates whether reading about Indefinite Life Extension (ILE) can reduce death thought accessibility, particularly among men, as a way to manage death-related concerns. The study aims to explore gender differences in the psychological function of ILE as a terror management strategy. Methodology: An experimental design was used, involving 110 American undergraduate students. Participants were randomly assigned to read abou…
Agentic collective narcissism and communal collective narcissism
Perceived Similarity of the Self to Animals, Creativity, and Anxiety
According to terror management theory, humans avoid death anxiety by embedding themselves within cultural worldviews that allow them to perceive themselves as more than mortal animals. However, individuals also differ in their trait-like tendency to dissociate from other animals. In six studies, we tested whether individuals who perceive themselves as more similar to animals (high-perceived similarity of the self to animals [PSSA]) invest more in…
Parental motivated helplessness in vaccinating children against Covid-19
According to the motivated helplessness hypothesis, parental feelings of helplessness regarding vaccinating children against COVID-19 may serve a protective function against vaccine fear and hesitancy. Two correlational studies conducted among Israelis (Study 1) and an international sample (Study 2), examined whether self-reported perceived helplessness in vaccinating children may be related to lower vaccine-fear, and higher perceived vaccine-eff…
Motivated Helplessness in the Coronavirus Pandemic
Introduction: According to the motivated helplessness hypothesis, thinking that there is nothing to do to avoid the coronavirus may make people less afraid of being infected (Lifshin et al., 2020). Previous correlational evidence indicated that high levels of helplessness were associated with diminished fear of COVID-19 (Lifshin et al., 2020; Lifshin & Mikulincer, 2021). Method: We tested if manipulated perceived helplessness to avoid the virus u…
Not all dogs (and goals) were created equal
Building on the framework of learned helplessness, and applying a behavioural perspective, Boddez et al. theorise that consecutive failures in various life domains might be generalised and cause a general sense of helplessness, which leads to, and can be conceptualised as, human suffering. We argue that this perspective fails to address the complexities of human suffering and the motivational sources of feelings of helplessness. We provide an exi…
Bigotry and the human–animal divide
2,846). Supporting the hypothesis, low belief in human evolution was associated with higher levels of prejudice, racist attitudes, and support for discriminatory behaviors against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ), Blacks, and immigrants in the United States (Study 1), with higher ingroup biases, prejudicial attitudes toward outgroups, and less support for conflict resolution in samples collected from 19 Eastern European coun…
Further evidence for motivated helplessness in the context of the Covid-19 outbreak
According to the motivated helplessness hypothesis, a sense of helplessness in coping with threats in a specific domain can serve an anxiety-buffering function. The purpose of this study was to test this hypothesis in the context of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Argentina, using data collected before and during the pandemic. Findings supported the motivated helplessness hypothesis: Whereas feelings of helplessness to avoid being infected…
Will Life Extension Affect Our Social Judgments? Evidence That the Possibility of Indefinite Life Extension Increases Harshness Toward Social Transgressors
We tested the hypothesis that if indefinite life extension (ILE) through medical technologies were to become a reality, then people may become harsher in their judgment of social transgressors. In support of this hypothesis, we found that higher positive attitudes towards ILE technologies related to harshness in judgment of social transgressions (Study 1), and that making ILE plausible (compared to not plausible) led participants to endorse harsh…
German desire for historical closure indirectly affects Israelis' intergroup attitudes
Research indicates that the memory of collective historical trauma may fuel current intergroup conflicts. In the present research, we examined in two experiments whether perpetrator desire for historical closure influences victim group attitudes in a current, seemingly unrelated, intergroup conflict. In Study 1 ( N = 122), participants texted with a German confederate who either expressed responsibility, a desire for historical closure ( Schlusss…
Motivated Helplessness in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic
Introduction: We tested the hypothesis that feelings of helplessness — i.e., the perception that one is unable to control and prevent negative events — may serve a protective psychological function against fear and anxiety arousal in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We conducted a large scale study with participants from different countries (N = 3,632) to examine if perceived helplessness to avoid being infected with COVID-19 relate…
Towards an Anxiety-Buffer Disruption Approach to Depression
Introduction: In two studies, we tested an anxiety-buffer disruption approach to depression, examining the effects of attachment insecurities, worldview threat, and death concerns on depression-related feelings. Method: In both studies, Israeli undergraduates reported on their attachment insecurities (anxiety, avoidance), were exposed to a worldview threat or a no-threat condition, and then rated their current level of depression-related feelings…
Mothers never retire
OBJECTIVES: The main goal of these studies is to provide an experimental test of a core hypothesis based on attachment theory: Working models of mother are active in adults' minds and can bias their views of self and romantic partners. METHOD: In two studies, we conducted clinical interviews to identify positive and negative core traits that participants used to describe their mothers. We then implicitly primed either positive or negative traits …
Diehard singles
This research examines the motivational underpinnings of late bachelorhood through the lens of terror management and attachment theory. It was hypothesized that, although close relationships reduce existential concerns for most people, for avoidantly attached singles, thoughts of marriage may increase existential concerns. These hypotheses were tested in two studies among Israeli men. In Study 1, thoughts about getting married increased death tho…
Teachers' attachment orientations and children's school adjustment
The goal of this study was to examine the contribution of teachers' attachment orientations to the teacher-child relationship and to children's adjustment to school during first grade. We sampled 539 first-grade children and their homeroom teachers ( N = 58), measured teachers' attachment orientations and children's attachment to mother at the beginning of the academic year, and followed children's perceptions of their teachers' responsiveness an…
Existential isolation and death thought accessibility
Mortality salience, religiosity, and indefinite life extension
Strides are being made in medicine toward the possibility of indefinite life extension (ILE). Research shows that people cope with the prospect of mortality with various ways to feel transcendent of death, including investing in religion and afterlife beliefs. But how would these investments be affected by the possibility of ILE through medical science? The current research provides an initial effort to answer this question by testing whether, af…
Are You Smarter Than a Cetacean
Terror management theory and research indicate that humans cope with concerns about mortality by believing we are more than nonhuman animals. The current studies investigated whether this motivation plays a role in believing humans are more intelligent than other animals. Study 1 had participants think about mortality or another unpleasant topic. The study found that after the death reminder, participants had more negative reactions to a scientif…
Religiosity and Support for Killing Animals
Prior research shows that the correlation between religiosity and support for animal rights can be positive, negative, or zero. We hypothesized that this relationship may actually be curvilinear, where a moderate degree of religiosity may reduce support for killing animals (compared with non-religiosity or atheism), but a very high degree of religiosity (e.g., fundamentalism) might increase support for killing animals. We tested this hypothesis i…
Managing the death of close others
The death of a close other (DOCO) is perhaps the most difficult experience that people endure. According to terror management theory (TMT), people manage the potentially terrorizing awareness of their mortality by immersing in cultural worldviews that allow them to feel like valuable members of a meaningful universe who may have some existence or trace after death. Although TMT has potential implications for understanding how people cope with DOC…
Existential isolation and death thought accessibility
When criticism is ineffective
Three studies examined the effect of historical trauma reminders and criticism from international allies on attitudes toward current conflicts. In Study 1, Israeli participants ( N = 116) were primed with the Holocaust, and read either that the U.S. President Obama supports Israel's right to defend itself and attack Iran, or that he opposes such action. Then, support for preemptive violence was assessed. Study 2 ( N = 133) replicated this design,…
Teachers' attachment orientations and children's school adjustment
The goal of this study was to examine the contribution of teachers' attachment orientations to the teacher-child relationship and to children's adjustment to school during first grade. We sampled 539 first-grade children and their homeroom teachers ( N = 58), measured teachers' attachment orientations and children's attachment to mother at the beginning of the academic year, and followed children's perceptions of their teachers' responsiveness an…
Bigotry and the human–animal divide
2,846). Supporting the hypothesis, low belief in human evolution was associated with higher levels of prejudice, racist attitudes, and support for discriminatory behaviors against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ), Blacks, and immigrants in the United States (Study 1), with higher ingroup biases, prejudicial attitudes toward outgroups, and less support for conflict resolution in samples collected from 19 Eastern European coun…
Diehard singles
This research examines the motivational underpinnings of late bachelorhood through the lens of terror management and attachment theory. It was hypothesized that, although close relationships reduce existential concerns for most people, for avoidantly attached singles, thoughts of marriage may increase existential concerns. These hypotheses were tested in two studies among Israeli men. In Study 1, thoughts about getting married increased death tho…
Are You Smarter Than a Cetacean
Terror management theory and research indicate that humans cope with concerns about mortality by believing we are more than nonhuman animals. The current studies investigated whether this motivation plays a role in believing humans are more intelligent than other animals. Study 1 had participants think about mortality or another unpleasant topic. The study found that after the death reminder, participants had more negative reactions to a scientif…
Religiosity and Support for Killing Animals
Prior research shows that the correlation between religiosity and support for animal rights can be positive, negative, or zero. We hypothesized that this relationship may actually be curvilinear, where a moderate degree of religiosity may reduce support for killing animals (compared with non-religiosity or atheism), but a very high degree of religiosity (e.g., fundamentalism) might increase support for killing animals. We tested this hypothesis i…
Terror Management Theory
Terror management theory (TMT), based on the works of Ernest Becker, asserts that the fear of death contributes to many aspects of human thought and behavior. According to TMT, people use self‐esteem and cultural worldviews to buffer awareness of death. In this short review paper we review fundamental research in TMT, including the findings that after being reminded of death people bolster their cultural worldviews and strive for self‐esteem. Cut…
Managing the death of close others
The death of a close other (DOCO) is perhaps the most difficult experience that people endure. According to terror management theory (TMT), people manage the potentially terrorizing awareness of their mortality by immersing in cultural worldviews that allow them to feel like valuable members of a meaningful universe who may have some existence or trace after death. Although TMT has potential implications for understanding how people cope with DOC…
When criticism is ineffective
Three studies examined the effect of historical trauma reminders and criticism from international allies on attitudes toward current conflicts. In Study 1, Israeli participants ( N = 116) were primed with the Holocaust, and read either that the U.S. President Obama supports Israel's right to defend itself and attack Iran, or that he opposes such action. Then, support for preemptive violence was assessed. Study 2 ( N = 133) replicated this design,…
Mortality salience, religiosity, and indefinite life extension
Strides are being made in medicine toward the possibility of indefinite life extension (ILE). Research shows that people cope with the prospect of mortality with various ways to feel transcendent of death, including investing in religion and afterlife beliefs. But how would these investments be affected by the possibility of ILE through medical science? The current research provides an initial effort to answer this question by testing whether, af…
Are You Smarter Than a Cetacean
Terror management theory and research indicate that humans cope with concerns about mortality by believing we are more than nonhuman animals. The current studies investigated whether this motivation plays a role in believing humans are more intelligent than other animals. Study 1 had participants think about mortality or another unpleasant topic. The study found that after the death reminder, participants had more negative reactions to a scientif…
Religiosity and Support for Killing Animals
Prior research shows that the correlation between religiosity and support for animal rights can be positive, negative, or zero. We hypothesized that this relationship may actually be curvilinear, where a moderate degree of religiosity may reduce support for killing animals (compared with non-religiosity or atheism), but a very high degree of religiosity (e.g., fundamentalism) might increase support for killing animals. We tested this hypothesis i…
Existential isolation and death thought accessibility
Motivated Helplessness in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic
Introduction: We tested the hypothesis that feelings of helplessness — i.e., the perception that one is unable to control and prevent negative events — may serve a protective psychological function against fear and anxiety arousal in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We conducted a large scale study with participants from different countries (N = 3,632) to examine if perceived helplessness to avoid being infected with COVID-19 relate…
Towards an Anxiety-Buffer Disruption Approach to Depression
Introduction: In two studies, we tested an anxiety-buffer disruption approach to depression, examining the effects of attachment insecurities, worldview threat, and death concerns on depression-related feelings. Method: In both studies, Israeli undergraduates reported on their attachment insecurities (anxiety, avoidance), were exposed to a worldview threat or a no-threat condition, and then rated their current level of depression-related feelings…
Mothers never retire
OBJECTIVES: The main goal of these studies is to provide an experimental test of a core hypothesis based on attachment theory: Working models of mother are active in adults' minds and can bias their views of self and romantic partners. METHOD: In two studies, we conducted clinical interviews to identify positive and negative core traits that participants used to describe their mothers. We then implicitly primed either positive or negative traits …
Diehard singles
This research examines the motivational underpinnings of late bachelorhood through the lens of terror management and attachment theory. It was hypothesized that, although close relationships reduce existential concerns for most people, for avoidantly attached singles, thoughts of marriage may increase existential concerns. These hypotheses were tested in two studies among Israeli men. In Study 1, thoughts about getting married increased death tho…
Teachers' attachment orientations and children's school adjustment
The goal of this study was to examine the contribution of teachers' attachment orientations to the teacher-child relationship and to children's adjustment to school during first grade. We sampled 539 first-grade children and their homeroom teachers ( N = 58), measured teachers' attachment orientations and children's attachment to mother at the beginning of the academic year, and followed children's perceptions of their teachers' responsiveness an…
Further evidence for motivated helplessness in the context of the Covid-19 outbreak
According to the motivated helplessness hypothesis, a sense of helplessness in coping with threats in a specific domain can serve an anxiety-buffering function. The purpose of this study was to test this hypothesis in the context of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Argentina, using data collected before and during the pandemic. Findings supported the motivated helplessness hypothesis: Whereas feelings of helplessness to avoid being infected…
Will Life Extension Affect Our Social Judgments? Evidence That the Possibility of Indefinite Life Extension Increases Harshness Toward Social Transgressors
We tested the hypothesis that if indefinite life extension (ILE) through medical technologies were to become a reality, then people may become harsher in their judgment of social transgressors. In support of this hypothesis, we found that higher positive attitudes towards ILE technologies related to harshness in judgment of social transgressions (Study 1), and that making ILE plausible (compared to not plausible) led participants to endorse harsh…
German desire for historical closure indirectly affects Israelis' intergroup attitudes
Research indicates that the memory of collective historical trauma may fuel current intergroup conflicts. In the present research, we examined in two experiments whether perpetrator desire for historical closure influences victim group attitudes in a current, seemingly unrelated, intergroup conflict. In Study 1 ( N = 122), participants texted with a German confederate who either expressed responsibility, a desire for historical closure ( Schlusss…
Motivated Helplessness in the Coronavirus Pandemic
Introduction: According to the motivated helplessness hypothesis, thinking that there is nothing to do to avoid the coronavirus may make people less afraid of being infected (Lifshin et al., 2020). Previous correlational evidence indicated that high levels of helplessness were associated with diminished fear of COVID-19 (Lifshin et al., 2020; Lifshin & Mikulincer, 2021). Method: We tested if manipulated perceived helplessness to avoid the virus u…
Not all dogs (and goals) were created equal
Building on the framework of learned helplessness, and applying a behavioural perspective, Boddez et al. theorise that consecutive failures in various life domains might be generalised and cause a general sense of helplessness, which leads to, and can be conceptualised as, human suffering. We argue that this perspective fails to address the complexities of human suffering and the motivational sources of feelings of helplessness. We provide an exi…
Bigotry and the human–animal divide
2,846). Supporting the hypothesis, low belief in human evolution was associated with higher levels of prejudice, racist attitudes, and support for discriminatory behaviors against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ), Blacks, and immigrants in the United States (Study 1), with higher ingroup biases, prejudicial attitudes toward outgroups, and less support for conflict resolution in samples collected from 19 Eastern European coun…
Perceived Similarity of the Self to Animals, Creativity, and Anxiety
According to terror management theory, humans avoid death anxiety by embedding themselves within cultural worldviews that allow them to perceive themselves as more than mortal animals. However, individuals also differ in their trait-like tendency to dissociate from other animals. In six studies, we tested whether individuals who perceive themselves as more similar to animals (high-perceived similarity of the self to animals [PSSA]) invest more in…
Parental motivated helplessness in vaccinating children against Covid-19
According to the motivated helplessness hypothesis, parental feelings of helplessness regarding vaccinating children against COVID-19 may serve a protective function against vaccine fear and hesitancy. Two correlational studies conducted among Israelis (Study 1) and an international sample (Study 2), examined whether self-reported perceived helplessness in vaccinating children may be related to lower vaccine-fear, and higher perceived vaccine-eff…
Testing the underlying structure of unfounded beliefs about Covid-19 around the world
Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (…
Afterlife Beliefs, Life Extension and Gender
Purpose: This study investigates whether reading about Indefinite Life Extension (ILE) can reduce death thought accessibility, particularly among men, as a way to manage death-related concerns. The study aims to explore gender differences in the psychological function of ILE as a terror management strategy. Methodology: An experimental design was used, involving 110 American undergraduate students. Participants were randomly assigned to read abou…
Agentic collective narcissism and communal collective narcissism
Paradoxical thinking and attitudes toward prostitution
Attitudes on socially consequential issues are often resistant to direct persuasion. Paradoxical thinking is a persuasion technique that presents exaggerated or absurd arguments for a position that may make people object to and reduce resistance to persuasion attempts. Across three preregistered experiments, we tested the effects of absurd paradoxical messages regarding attitudes toward prostitution. In Studies 1-2, paradoxical pro-prostitution m…
Beyond Religious Narcissistic Identification
Agnosticism and atheism are often grouped simply as nonreligious identities, yet emerging research highlights their distinct psychological profiles and social implications. Among these distinctions, collective narcissism – characterized by strong attachment to one’s group, exceptionalism, and grievance for recognition – offers a framework for understanding identity processes in both nonreligious groups. We examined whether agnostics and atheists …
Psychology (23 works) · Social Psychology (18 works) · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion (15 works) · Developmental psychology (11 works) · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment (9 works) · Terror management theory (8 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (7 works) · Anxiety (6 works) · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health (6 works) · Medicine (6 works)