Does incidental priming of religious images affect one's outlook on mortality? A terror management study.

by Kevin N. Roberts

The aim of this study was to see if viewing religious images prior to reminding participants of their own death influenced how they crafted their essays differently from those who viewed only neutral images or no images. A content analysis of the essays yielded seven categories across all three conditions: (1) Religious Spiritual Notions of the Afterlife, (2) Existential Fears, (3) Dying and the Body Post Mortem, (4) Potential for Pain, (5) Feelings of Sadness, (6) Thoughts on Life, (7) Mentioning Loved Ones. Participants who viewed the religious images wrote less about fearing death, dying or the body post-mortem, and sadness and more about belief in the afterlife, potential for pain, and mention loved ones. Implications are discussed.

46 pages, NOOK Study eTextbook