ArticleThe Journal of social psychology2018
Fear of self-annihilation and existential uncertainty as predictors of worldview defense: Comparing terror management and uncertainty theories.
Article in The Journal of social psychology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Relationship Between Symptom Burden and Death Anxiety in Ovarian Cancer Patients: The Mediating Effect of Alexithymia.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2026Article
- Attitudes of medical doctors, nurses and paramedics towards death.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- The Effect of Group Identification on Death Anxiety: The Chain Mediation Role of Close Relationships and Self-Esteem.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Terror management theory (TMT) proposes that thoughts of death trigger a concern about self-annihilation that motivates the defense of cultural worldviews. In contrast, uncertainty theorists propose that thoughts of death trigger feelings of uncertainty that motivate worldview defense. University students (N = 414) completed measures of the chronic fear of self-annihilation and existential uncertainty as well as the need for closure. They then evaluated either a meaning threat stimulus or a control stimulus. Consistent with TMT, participants with a high fear of self-annihilation and a high need for closure showed the greatest dislike of the meaning threat stimulus, even after controlling for their existential uncertainty. Contrary to the uncertainty perspective, fear of existential uncertainty showed no significant effects.
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