To Protect or to Kill? Environmental Contingent Self-Worth Moderates Death Prime Effects on Animal-Based Attitudes
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21454034 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Samuel Fairlamb (0000-0002-5974-2282, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK, corresponding author), Andrada-Elena STAN (Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK), Katinka Lovas (Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 9 |
| Pages | 1315-1331 |
| Publication date | 2024-09-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0146-1672 • E-ISSN: 1552-7433 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/01461672231160652 |
| PMID | 36945754 |
| OpenAlex | W4353021615 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 35 |
Lifshin et al. found that death primes increased support for killing animals, suggesting that the killing of animals serves a terror management function. The present research adds to this by suggesting that protecting animals can also serve a terror management function when people see such behaviors as culturally valuable. In three studies ( N = 765), environmental contingent self-worth (ECSW) moderated the effect of death primes on attitudes toward animals. Attitudes toward animals also mediated the effect of a death prime on increased power-based invulnerability for those with low ECSW and decreased power-based invulnerability for those with high ECSW (Study 3). Finally, we found little support that death primes influenced beliefs regarding human–animal superiority (Study 1 and 2) or similarity (Study 2). Our findings therefore provide partial support for past terror management research and further the understanding regarding how to promote more benevolent human–animal relations
Biology · Function (biology) · Mortality salience · Power (physics) · Prime (order theory) · Terror management theory · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Social Psychology
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| Highly cited | No |
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