Windows into nothingness
Terror management, meaninglessness, and negative reactions to modern art
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6203759 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mark J Landau (0000-0002-5717-754X, University of Arizona), Jeff Greenberg (0000-0002-2206-0771, University of Arizona), Sheldon Solomon (0000-0002-7035-2082, Skidmore College), Tom Pyszczynski (0000-0003-4008-3384, University of Colorado Colorado Springs), Andy Martens (University of Arizona) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 90 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 879-892 |
| Publication date | 2006-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/0022-3514.90.6.879 |
| PMID | 16784340 |
| OpenAlex | W2008365121 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 72 |
| References cited | 44 |
Why do people dislike art that they find meaningless? According to terror management theory, maintaining a basic meaningful view of reality is a key prerequisite for managing concerns about mortality. Therefore, mortality salience should decrease liking for apparently meaningless art, particularly among those predisposed to unambiguous knowledge. Accordingly, mortality salience diminished affection for modern art in Study 1, and this effect was shown in Study 2 to be specific to individuals with a high personal need for structure (PNS). In Studies 3 and 4, mortality salient high-PNS participants disliked modern art unless it was imbued with meaning, either by means of a title or a personal frame of reference induction. Discussion focused on the roles of meaninglessness, PNS, and art in terror management
Affection · Cognitive psychology · Epistemology · Meaning (existential) · Mortality salience · Nothing · Political science · Psychotherapist · Salience (neuroscience) · Salient · Terror management theory · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Law · Media Influence and Health · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology
The memory remains
Supernatural Beliefs, Unconscious Threat and Judgment Bias in Tibetan Buddhists
Joking in the face of death
Art training and personality traits as predictors of aesthetic experience of different art styles among Polish students
The effects of existential threat on reading comprehension of worldview affirming and disconfirming information
God and the government
Toward a greater understanding of the emotional dynamics of the mortality salience manipulation
The siren's call
Unconscious vigilance
The art of influence
Experimental Existential Psychology
(An)Archive
Thirty Years of Terror Management Theory
Threat and Defense
Compensatory Control
Mortality Salience, Martyrdom, and Military Might
When death thoughts lead to death fears
Religious Belief as Compensatory Control
An Exploratory Study of Death Anxiety and Trainees' Choice of Theoretical Orientation
Nostalgia and Perceptions of Artwork
Two Decades of Terror Management Theory
Can Viewing Films Promote Creative Thinking Styles? Examining The Complex Roles of Personality and Meaning-Making
Does an emotional connection to art really require a human artist? Emotion and intentionality responses to AI- versus human-created art and impact on aesthetic experience
Concreteness of semantic interpretations of abstract and representational artworks
Emotive Factors that Make Photographs Memorable
Religious Fundamentalism and Terror Management
Exploring the role of humor in the management of existential anxiety
Conceptualizing Death in a Worldview Consistent, Meaningful Way and Its Effects on Worldview Defense
Defensive or Existential Religious Orientations and Mortality Salience Hypothesis
Measuring the (Im)Measurable
Appreciation in the Face of Death
Unpacking professional vision
To Nostalgize
Seeking structure in social organization
Life lacks meaning without acceptance
Adjusting to death
Focus theory of normative conduct and terror-management theory
For God (or) country
The dynamics of death and meaning
Finding meaning in self-control
Imbuing Everyday Actions with Meaning in Response to Existential Threat
The true self and existential structure? Unexpected effects of mortality salience and personal need for structure on belief in a true self
An initial investigation of the role of death concerns in evaluations of metaphoric language about God
Should We Manage Terror—If We Could
An Exploratory Study of Death Anxiety and Trainees' Choice of Theoretical Orientation
Where, O death, is thy sting? The meaning-providing function of beliefs in literal immortality
Structured Terror
The importance of meaning in the relationship between religion and death
Self-enhancement and self-protection
On graves and graven images
Differing emotional sensitivities in the two factors of personal need for structure
Ceci n'est pas la mort
On the meaningfulness of existence
Death awareness and body–self dualism
Affirming belief in scientific progress reduces environmentally friendly behaviour
Go with the flow
Open to death
Can ingroup affirmation relieve outgroup derogation
How perceptions of one's organization can affect perceptions of the self
Finding everland
A control-based account of stereotyping
Money as an existential anxiety buffer
The role of mortality awareness in heroic enactment
Belief in divine moral authority satisfies the psychological need for structure and increases in the face of perceived injustice
Controlling death by defending ingroups — Mediational insights into terror management and control restoration
The protective identity
The social pain of Cyberball
Managing terror when self-worth and worldviews collide
Boredom Increases Impulsiveness
Ideology, Fear of Death, and Death Anxiety
Art Value Creation and Destruction
The Existential Function of Intrinsic Religiousness
Inside culture
Advances In Experimental Social Psychology
In the wake of 9/11
Lay Epistemics and Human Knowledge
Manifestoes of Surrealism
Terror Management Theory of Self-Esteem and Cultural Worldviews
Subjective organization in free recall of "unrelated" words.
Subliminal Exposure to Death-Related Stimuli Increases Defense of the Cultural Worldview
Openness to Experience
Mortality salience and the spreading activation of worldview-relevant constructs
Evidence of a Terror Management Function of Cultural Icons
The Existential Function of Close Relationships
A Time to Tan
The Causes and Consequences of a Need for Self-Esteem
Art and Culture
Distinction
Public Self and Private Self
Evidence for terror management theory II
Evidence for terror management theory
Art and artist
Role of consciousness and accessibility of death-related thoughts in mortality salience effects
Uncertainty management
Suppression, accessibility of death-related thoughts, and cultural worldview defense
The impact of mortality salience on reckless driving
Derogation and distancing as terror management strategies
A Function of Form
Compensatory conviction in the face of personal uncertainty
Death, sex, love, and neuroticism
Stereotypes and terror management
Individual differences in social categorization
Personal need for structure
To belong or not to belong, that is the question
| Unique citing works | 72 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,6 |
| Citation span | 2006 - 2025 (20) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 62 |