Peter J Helm
Biographic Data
| ID | 757290 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Peter J Helm |
| GIVEN NAMES | Peter J |
| FAMILY NAME | Helm |
| SIGNATURE | HELM P J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Missouri |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3316-4699 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1987 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Are quantitative targets for social network size and interaction frequency appropriate for public health guidelines on social connection? Evidence from loneliness and related mental health outcomes
Introduction Public health guidelines for social connection seek to address loneliness and its health consequences at the population level. Although some approaches suggest specific numeric targets (e.g., frequency of social interaction), the empirical basis for these thresholds remains unclear. We aimed to identify such thresholds for loneliness and related mental health outcomes and test their stability across strata of mental health. Methods W…
I am not an animal—I am an American: Disassociation from animals and importance of cultural group identity
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…
Diverse community perspectives on public health guidelines for social connection: A qualitative study in Canada
Loneliness and social isolation harm mental and physical health, yet existing public health strategies often fail to reflect the lived realities of equity-owed communities. To address this gap, our team has been developing potential public health guidelines aimed at fostering social connection in Canada. This study sought to engage five communities facing structural inequities (i.e. 2S/LGBTQ+ individuals, racialized communities, Indigenous people…
Public Health Guidelines for Social Connection: An International Delphi Study
Relationship between social support and substance use among American Indian people with a self-identified substance use problem
Network substance use behavior was a better predictor of participant substance use outcomes than general support, substance-specific support, or support for recovery/treatment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)
The Impact of Awe on Existential Isolation: Evidence for Contrasting Pathways
We propose that awe has multifaceted relations with existential isolation, a feeling of separation between the self and others or the world. Three studies examined the relation between awe and existential isolation via feelings of small self (vastness, self-size, self-perspectives) and a sense of connectedness. Awe (vs. a control topic) was induced either using virtual reality (Study 1) or a recall task (Studies 2 and 3) and was indirectly associ…
A Phenomenological Divide: Reference Group Consequences for Existential Isolation
An apparent phenomenological divide between majority and minoritized groups exists in contemporary America in terms of feelings of social connection. Drawing on recent findings relating to existential isolation (i.e., the sense that one is alone in one’s subjective experience), three studies compare these feelings toward one’s in-group and out-group. Study 1 assesses whether Black and White participants vary in their self-reported existential iso…
Afterlife Beliefs, Life Extension and Gender: Evidence for Life Extension Technologies Reduces Death Thought Accessibility Among Males
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…
The Role of Moral Concerns and Institutional Trust in Conspiratorial Thinking
Conspiracy theories often feature moral concerns and thrive when societal institutions are perceived as untrustworthy. However, limited research exists exploring whether moral concerns are associated with conspiracy thinking and if this link is strengthened when institutional trust is low. Two studies employing correlational (N = 423) and experimental (N = 381) designs found that liberty moral concerns, and to a lesser extent binding concerns, ar…
Perceived Similarity of the Self to Animals, Creativity, and Anxiety: A Terror Management Analysis
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…
Loneliness and time alone in everyday life: A descriptive-exploratory study of subjective and objective social isolation
Loneliness—the subjective experience of social isolation—is a common experience that can become an enduring feature of everyday life. How does feeling lonely relate to spending time alone? In this descriptive-exploratory study, we used the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), a naturalistic observation tool that samples sounds from participants’ daily lives, to assess time spent alone as an index of social isolation. We combined data from thr…
Feeling too isolated to be vaccinated? The contributing role of subjective interpersonal isolation factors towards Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance
Divergent effects of social media use on meaning in life via loneliness and existential isolation during the coronavirus pandemic
Stay-at-home orders issued to combat the growing number of infections during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 had many psychological consequences for people including elevated stress, anxiety, and difficulty maintaining meaning in their lives. The present studies utilized cross-sectional designs and were conducted to better understand how social media usage related to people's subjective isolation (i.e., social loneliness, emotional loneliness, a…
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…
Feeling out of (existential) place: Existential isolation and nonnormative group membership
Literature devoted to understanding the experiences of individuals who do not fit the cultural mold—those who belong to minority, stigmatized, or underrepresented groups—demonstrates that nonnormative status goes hand in hand with a range of negative outcomes. The current research considers a heretofore unstudied correlate of nonnormative status: existential isolation (the feeling of being alone in one’s subjective experience), which differs from…
Prejudicial reactions to the removal of Native American mascots
As Native American mascots are discontinued, research is needed to understand the impact on intergroup relations. Such discontinuations may be threatening to some and increase prejudice against Native Americans. In Study 1 ( N = 389), exposure to information about a Native American mascot removal increased punitive judgments against a Native American in a hypothetical legal scenario, particularly among those high in racial colorblindness and thos…
Existential Isolation, Loneliness, Depression, and Suicide Ideation in Young Adults
Introduction: The relationships between loneliness, depression, and suicide ideation have been well established in the literature. Yet almost no research has examined how feelings of existential isolation (EI; Yalom, 1980), a form of interpersonal isolation conceptually similar, but distinct from loneliness, relates to depressive symptomology or suicide ideation. Method: Four independent samples of undergraduates completed measures of loneliness,…
Fatalism in the context of Covid-19: Perceiving coronavirus as a death sentence predicts reluctance to perform recommended preventive behaviors
To manage the spread of coronavirus, health entities have urged the public to take preventive measures such as social distancing and handwashing. Yet, many appear reluctant to take these measures. Research is needed to understand factors underlying such reluctance, with the aim of developing targeted health interventions. We identify associating coronavirus with death as one such factor. 590 participants completed surveys in mid-March 2020, which…
Fighting death with health inequality: The role of mortality cognition and shifting racial demographics in policy attitudes
White Americans are predicted to soon comprise less than half of the U.S. population. Such demographic changes can affect political attitudes by threatening group status. The present studies built from this literature to examine a process in which information about such demographic shifts can also affect health policy attitudes, in part by increasing death-related thoughts, and that health inequalities may in turn buffer such cognitions. Three ex…
Feeling alone in your subjectivity: Introducing the State Trait Existential Isolation Model (STEIM)
Psychologists have devoted substantial attention to social isolation and to loneliness but only recently have psychologists begun to consider existential isolation. Existential isolation is a unique form of interpersonal isolation, related to, but distinct from loneliness and social isolation. Feeling existentially isolated is the subjective sense one is alone in one's experience, and that others cannot understand one's perspective. In the curren…
Existential isolation and death thought accessibility
Self‐Concept
Self‐concept refers to a collection of self‐representations about the self. One's self‐concept begins to develop in childhood but continues through the lifespan. Sources of self‐concept include reflected appraisals, social comparisons, and self‐perception. Self‐construal refers to how people organize their self and can depend upon a variety of cultural contexts. Research focuses on independent or interdependent self‐construal, which is more commo…
Managing the death of close others: Evidence of higher valuing of ingroup identity in young adults who have experienced the death of a close other
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…
A halt in the secular trend towards earlier menarche in Denmark
Uncertainties in designation of age at menarche in the nineteenth century: Revised mean for Denmark, 1835
The earliest Danish study of mean age at menarche by Ravn (Fenger 1850) is analysed with special reference to age recordings and their subsequent groupings into age-classes. Uncertainties of interpretation of the age designations are discussed, and it is argued that, in all probability, mean age at menarche was 17 years in the samples of Danish women born around 1820, rather than below 16 years as believed previously
Existential isolation and death thought accessibility
Divergent effects of social media use on meaning in life via loneliness and existential isolation during the coronavirus pandemic
Stay-at-home orders issued to combat the growing number of infections during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 had many psychological consequences for people including elevated stress, anxiety, and difficulty maintaining meaning in their lives. The present studies utilized cross-sectional designs and were conducted to better understand how social media usage related to people's subjective isolation (i.e., social loneliness, emotional loneliness, a…
Feeling out of (existential) place: Existential isolation and nonnormative group membership
Literature devoted to understanding the experiences of individuals who do not fit the cultural mold—those who belong to minority, stigmatized, or underrepresented groups—demonstrates that nonnormative status goes hand in hand with a range of negative outcomes. The current research considers a heretofore unstudied correlate of nonnormative status: existential isolation (the feeling of being alone in one’s subjective experience), which differs from…
Fighting death with health inequality: The role of mortality cognition and shifting racial demographics in policy attitudes
White Americans are predicted to soon comprise less than half of the U.S. population. Such demographic changes can affect political attitudes by threatening group status. The present studies built from this literature to examine a process in which information about such demographic shifts can also affect health policy attitudes, in part by increasing death-related thoughts, and that health inequalities may in turn buffer such cognitions. Three ex…
Prejudicial reactions to the removal of Native American mascots
As Native American mascots are discontinued, research is needed to understand the impact on intergroup relations. Such discontinuations may be threatening to some and increase prejudice against Native Americans. In Study 1 ( N = 389), exposure to information about a Native American mascot removal increased punitive judgments against a Native American in a hypothetical legal scenario, particularly among those high in racial colorblindness and thos…
Loneliness and time alone in everyday life: A descriptive-exploratory study of subjective and objective social isolation
Loneliness—the subjective experience of social isolation—is a common experience that can become an enduring feature of everyday life. How does feeling lonely relate to spending time alone? In this descriptive-exploratory study, we used the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), a naturalistic observation tool that samples sounds from participants’ daily lives, to assess time spent alone as an index of social isolation. We combined data from thr…
Feeling too isolated to be vaccinated? The contributing role of subjective interpersonal isolation factors towards Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance
Uncertainties in designation of age at menarche in the nineteenth century: Revised mean for Denmark, 1835
The earliest Danish study of mean age at menarche by Ravn (Fenger 1850) is analysed with special reference to age recordings and their subsequent groupings into age-classes. Uncertainties of interpretation of the age designations are discussed, and it is argued that, in all probability, mean age at menarche was 17 years in the samples of Danish women born around 1820, rather than below 16 years as believed previously
A halt in the secular trend towards earlier menarche in Denmark
Self‐Concept
Self‐concept refers to a collection of self‐representations about the self. One's self‐concept begins to develop in childhood but continues through the lifespan. Sources of self‐concept include reflected appraisals, social comparisons, and self‐perception. Self‐construal refers to how people organize their self and can depend upon a variety of cultural contexts. Research focuses on independent or interdependent self‐construal, which is more commo…
Managing the death of close others: Evidence of higher valuing of ingroup identity in young adults who have experienced the death of a close other
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…
Feeling alone in your subjectivity: Introducing the State Trait Existential Isolation Model (STEIM)
Psychologists have devoted substantial attention to social isolation and to loneliness but only recently have psychologists begun to consider existential isolation. Existential isolation is a unique form of interpersonal isolation, related to, but distinct from loneliness and social isolation. Feeling existentially isolated is the subjective sense one is alone in one's experience, and that others cannot understand one's perspective. In the curren…
Existential isolation and death thought accessibility
Existential Isolation, Loneliness, Depression, and Suicide Ideation in Young Adults
Introduction: The relationships between loneliness, depression, and suicide ideation have been well established in the literature. Yet almost no research has examined how feelings of existential isolation (EI; Yalom, 1980), a form of interpersonal isolation conceptually similar, but distinct from loneliness, relates to depressive symptomology or suicide ideation. Method: Four independent samples of undergraduates completed measures of loneliness,…
Fatalism in the context of Covid-19: Perceiving coronavirus as a death sentence predicts reluctance to perform recommended preventive behaviors
To manage the spread of coronavirus, health entities have urged the public to take preventive measures such as social distancing and handwashing. Yet, many appear reluctant to take these measures. Research is needed to understand factors underlying such reluctance, with the aim of developing targeted health interventions. We identify associating coronavirus with death as one such factor. 590 participants completed surveys in mid-March 2020, which…
Fighting death with health inequality: The role of mortality cognition and shifting racial demographics in policy attitudes
White Americans are predicted to soon comprise less than half of the U.S. population. Such demographic changes can affect political attitudes by threatening group status. The present studies built from this literature to examine a process in which information about such demographic shifts can also affect health policy attitudes, in part by increasing death-related thoughts, and that health inequalities may in turn buffer such cognitions. Three ex…
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…
Feeling out of (existential) place: Existential isolation and nonnormative group membership
Literature devoted to understanding the experiences of individuals who do not fit the cultural mold—those who belong to minority, stigmatized, or underrepresented groups—demonstrates that nonnormative status goes hand in hand with a range of negative outcomes. The current research considers a heretofore unstudied correlate of nonnormative status: existential isolation (the feeling of being alone in one’s subjective experience), which differs from…
Prejudicial reactions to the removal of Native American mascots
As Native American mascots are discontinued, research is needed to understand the impact on intergroup relations. Such discontinuations may be threatening to some and increase prejudice against Native Americans. In Study 1 ( N = 389), exposure to information about a Native American mascot removal increased punitive judgments against a Native American in a hypothetical legal scenario, particularly among those high in racial colorblindness and thos…
Divergent effects of social media use on meaning in life via loneliness and existential isolation during the coronavirus pandemic
Stay-at-home orders issued to combat the growing number of infections during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 had many psychological consequences for people including elevated stress, anxiety, and difficulty maintaining meaning in their lives. The present studies utilized cross-sectional designs and were conducted to better understand how social media usage related to people's subjective isolation (i.e., social loneliness, emotional loneliness, a…
Perceived Similarity of the Self to Animals, Creativity, and Anxiety: A Terror Management Analysis
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…
Loneliness and time alone in everyday life: A descriptive-exploratory study of subjective and objective social isolation
Loneliness—the subjective experience of social isolation—is a common experience that can become an enduring feature of everyday life. How does feeling lonely relate to spending time alone? In this descriptive-exploratory study, we used the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), a naturalistic observation tool that samples sounds from participants’ daily lives, to assess time spent alone as an index of social isolation. We combined data from thr…
Feeling too isolated to be vaccinated? The contributing role of subjective interpersonal isolation factors towards Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance
The Impact of Awe on Existential Isolation: Evidence for Contrasting Pathways
We propose that awe has multifaceted relations with existential isolation, a feeling of separation between the self and others or the world. Three studies examined the relation between awe and existential isolation via feelings of small self (vastness, self-size, self-perspectives) and a sense of connectedness. Awe (vs. a control topic) was induced either using virtual reality (Study 1) or a recall task (Studies 2 and 3) and was indirectly associ…
A Phenomenological Divide: Reference Group Consequences for Existential Isolation
An apparent phenomenological divide between majority and minoritized groups exists in contemporary America in terms of feelings of social connection. Drawing on recent findings relating to existential isolation (i.e., the sense that one is alone in one’s subjective experience), three studies compare these feelings toward one’s in-group and out-group. Study 1 assesses whether Black and White participants vary in their self-reported existential iso…
Afterlife Beliefs, Life Extension and Gender: Evidence for Life Extension Technologies Reduces Death Thought Accessibility Among Males
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…
The Role of Moral Concerns and Institutional Trust in Conspiratorial Thinking
Conspiracy theories often feature moral concerns and thrive when societal institutions are perceived as untrustworthy. However, limited research exists exploring whether moral concerns are associated with conspiracy thinking and if this link is strengthened when institutional trust is low. Two studies employing correlational (N = 423) and experimental (N = 381) designs found that liberty moral concerns, and to a lesser extent binding concerns, ar…
Diverse community perspectives on public health guidelines for social connection: A qualitative study in Canada
Loneliness and social isolation harm mental and physical health, yet existing public health strategies often fail to reflect the lived realities of equity-owed communities. To address this gap, our team has been developing potential public health guidelines aimed at fostering social connection in Canada. This study sought to engage five communities facing structural inequities (i.e. 2S/LGBTQ+ individuals, racialized communities, Indigenous people…
Public Health Guidelines for Social Connection: An International Delphi Study
Relationship between social support and substance use among American Indian people with a self-identified substance use problem
Network substance use behavior was a better predictor of participant substance use outcomes than general support, substance-specific support, or support for recovery/treatment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)
Are quantitative targets for social network size and interaction frequency appropriate for public health guidelines on social connection? Evidence from loneliness and related mental health outcomes
Introduction Public health guidelines for social connection seek to address loneliness and its health consequences at the population level. Although some approaches suggest specific numeric targets (e.g., frequency of social interaction), the empirical basis for these thresholds remains unclear. We aimed to identify such thresholds for loneliness and related mental health outcomes and test their stability across strata of mental health. Methods W…
I am not an animal—I am an American: Disassociation from animals and importance of cultural group identity
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…
Psychology (20 works) · Social Psychology (16 works) · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion (14 works) · Existentialism (8 works) · Medicine (8 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Feeling (7 works) · Loneliness (7 works)