Mortality Salience and Age Effects on Charitable Donations
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3755633 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jennifer R Roberts (0000-0003-2264-7430, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO, USA), Molly Maxfield (0000-0001-5510-5414, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue | 14 |
| Pages | 1863-1884 |
| Publication date | 2019-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0002764219850864 |
| OpenAlex | W2946408787 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 36 |
Research suggests that people are typically more generous in later life. Terror management theory offers one explanation for this pattern. The theory suggests that humans' innate desire to survive results in strong reactions to increased awareness of mortality, thereby affecting behaviors. Older adults' increasing proximity to life's end has been associated with greater generative concern, as a means of caring for future generations and ensuring symbolic immortality. This experimental study evaluated the effects of age and mortality salience on charitable giving. Age and mortality salience interacted to affect donations overall and specifically for in-group and out-group donations. Compared with respective age-based control groups, findings indicate that mortality salience primes led young adults to donate less overall to the in-group, and older adults to donate more overall and more to the out-group. Middle-aged adults' donations did not vary according to priming condition. Results suggest that contemplation of mortality differentially affects charitable donations of young and older adults
Affect (linguistics) · Age groups · Altruism (biology) · Biology · Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Mortality salience · Priming (agriculture) · Salience (neuroscience) · Terror management theory · Young adult · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Demography · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Medicine · Optimism, Hope, and Well-being · Psychology · Social Psychology · Gerontology
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I Belong, therefore, I Exist
Of Wealth and Death
A Terror Management Theory of Social Behavior
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A Literature Review of Empirical Studies of Philanthropy
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Psychological Research on Death Attitudes
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Why are the oldest old less generous? Explanations for the unexpected age-related drop in charitable giving
Testing alternative explanations for mortality salience effects
Evidence for terror management theory II
Age-related differences in altruism across adulthood
The Scrooge effect revisited
Evidence for terror management theory
Fear of death and the judgment of social transgressions
A Terror Management Analysis of the Psychological Functions of Religion
Two Decades of Terror Management Theory
Volunteerism during the Transition to Adulthood
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,2 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |