An experiment assessed the proposition that competing motives for inclusion and individuation both function to control concerns about mortality. Combining ideas from terror management theory and optimal distinctiveness theory, the authors hypothesized that mortality salience would increase the tendency of participants given feedback that they had strong conformist tendencies to underestimate social consensus for their attitudes and the tendency of participants given feedback that they were deviant to exaggerate social consensus for their attitudes. Participants were given either one or the other type of feedback, responded to open-ended questions about either their own death or their next important exam, completed a measure of social projection in which they indicated their own attitudes, and then estimated the percentage of the general population that shared their opinions. Results on a social projection measure consisting of the partial correlation between own and others' attitudes, controlling for social desirability, provided strong support for the hypotheses.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Asch, S. E. (1956). Studies of independence and conformity: A minority of one against a unanimous majority. Psychological Monographs, 70, 416-422.
2.
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachment as a fundamental human motive. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 497-529.
3.
Becker, E. (1962). The birth and death of meaning. New York: Free Press.
4.
Becker, E. (1971). The birth and death of meaning (2nd ed.). New York: Free Press.
5.
Becker, E. (1973). The denial of death. New York: Free Press.
6.
Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1967). The social construction of reality. Garden City, NY: Anchor.
7.
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. New York: Basic Books.
8.
Bramel, D. (1963). Selection as a target for defensive projection. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 66, 318-324.
9.
Brehm, J. W. (1966). A theory of psychological reactance. New York: Academic Press.
10.
Brewer, M. B. (1991). The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 475-482.
11.
Brewer, M. B. (1993a). The role of distinctiveness in social identity and group behavior. In M. Hogg & D. Abrams (Eds.), Group motivation: Social psychological perspectives (pp. 1-16). London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
12.
Brewer, M. B. (1993b). Social identity, distinctiveness, and in-group homogeneity. Social Cognition, 11, 150-164.
13.
Brewer, M. B., Manzi, J. M., & Shaw, J. S. (1993). In-group identification as a function of depersonalization, distinctiveness, and status. Psychological Science, 4, 88-92.
14.
Brewer, M. B., & Weber, J. G. (1994). Self-evaluation effects of interpersonal versus intergroup social comparison. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 268-275.
15.
Butcher, J. N., Dahlstrom, W. G., Graham, J. R., Tellegen, A., & Kaemmer, B. (1989). MMPI-2 manual for administration and scoring. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
16.
Campbell, J. D. (1986). Similarity and uniqueness: The effects of attribute type, relevance, and individual differences in self-esteem and depression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 281-294.
17.
Crano, W. D. (1983). Assumed consensus of attitudes: The effect of vested interest. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 9, 597-608.
18.
Dawes, R. M. (1989). Statistical criteria for a truly false consensus effect. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 1-17.
19.
Dawes, R. M. (1990). The potential nonfalsity of the false consensus effect. In R. M. Hogarth (Ed.), Insight in decision making: A tribute to Hillel J. Einhorn (pp. 179-199). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
20.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1991). A motivational approach to self: Integration in personality. In R. Dienstbier (Ed.), Vol. 38: Perspectives on motivation (pp. 237-288). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
21.
Erikson, E. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
22.
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relationships, 1, 117-140.
23.
Florian, V., & Mikulincer, M. (1997). Fear of death and the judgment of social transgressions: A multidimensional test of terror management theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 369-380.
24.
Forer, B. R. (1949). The fallacy of personal validation: A classroom demonstration of gullibility. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 44, 118-123.
25.
Fromkin, H. L. (1972). Feelings of interpersonal undistinctiveness: An unpleasant affective state. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality, 6, 178-182.
26.
Fromm, E. (1941). Escape from freedom. New York: Avon.
27.
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., & Solomon, S. (1986). The causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem: A terror management theory. In R. F. Baumeister (Ed.), Public self and private self (pp. 189-212). New York: Springer-Verlag.
28.
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., & Solomon, S. (1995). Toward a dual-motive depth psychology of self and social behavior. In M. H. Kernis (Ed.), Efficacy, agency, and self-esteem (pp. 73-97). New York: Plenum.
29.
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., Pinel, E., Simon, L., & Jordan, K. (1993). Effects of self-esteem on vulnerability-denying defensive distortions: Further evidence of an anxiety-buffering function of self-esteem. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 29, 229-251.
30.
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., Rosenblatt, A., Veeder, M., Kirkland, S., & Lyon, D. (1990). Evidence for terror management II: The effects of mortality salience on reactions to those who threaten or bolster the cultural worldview. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 308-318.
31.
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., Simon, L., & Breus, M. (1994). Role of consciousness and accessibility of death-related thoughts in mortality salience effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 627-637.
32.
Greenberg, J., Simon, L., Harmon-Jones, E., Solomon, S., Pyszczynski, T., & Chatel, D. (1995). Testing alternative explanations for mortality effects: Terror management, value accessibility, or worrisome thoughts? European Journal of Social Psychology, 12, 417-433.
33.
Greenberg, J., Simon, L., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., & Chatel, D. (1992). Terror management and tolerance: Does mortality salience always intensify negative reactions to others who threaten one's world view? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 212-220.
34.
Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., & Pyszczynski, T. (1997). Terror management theory of self-esteem and social behavior: Empirical assessments and conceptual refinements. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 29). New York: Academic Press.
35.
Harmon-Jones, E., Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., & Simon, L. (1996). The effects of mortality salience on intergroup discrimination between minimal groups. European Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 677-681.
36.
Harmon-Jones, E., Simon, L., Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., & McGregor, H. (1997). Terror management theory and self-esteem: Does self-esteem attenuate or intensify mortality salience effects? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 24-36.
37.
Higgins, E. T., Roles, C. R., & Jones, C. R. (1977). Category accessibility and impression formation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 141-154.
38.
Hoch, S. J. (1987). Perceived consensus and perceived accuracy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 221-234.
39.
Horney, K. (1937). The neurotic personality of our time. New York: Norton.
40.
Kelley, H. H. (1952). Two functions of reference groups. In G. E. Swanson, T. M. Newcomb, & E. L. Hartley (Eds.), Readings in social psychology (2nd ed., pp. 410-414). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
41.
Krueger, J., & Clement, R. W. (1994). The truly false consensus effect: An ineradicable and egocentric bias in social perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 596-610.
42.
Krueger, J., & Zeiger, J. S. (1993). Social categorization and the truly false consensus effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 670-680.
43.
Marks, G., & Miller, N. (1987). Ten years of research on the false-consensus effect: An empirical and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 102, 72-90.
44.
Markus, H., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224-253.
45.
Maslow, A. H. (1962). Toward a psychology of being. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand.
46.
McDougall, W. (1908). An introduction to social psychology. London: Methuen.
47.
McGregor, H., Lieberman, J., Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., Arndt, J., & Simon, L. (in press). Terror management and aggression: Evidence that mortality salience motivates aggression against worldview threatening individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
48.
McNemar, Q. (1962). Psychological statistics (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley.
49.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self; and society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
50.
Menaker, E. (1982). Otto Rank: A rediscovered legacy. New York: Columbia University Press.
51.
Nisbett, R. E., & Kunda, Z. (1985). Perceptions of social distributions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 297-311.
52.
Ochsmann, R., & Mathy, M. (1994). Depreciating of and distancing from foreigners: Effects of mortality salience. Unpublished manuscript, Universitat Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
53.
Ochsmann, R., & Reichelt, K. (1994). Evaluation of moral and immoral behavior: Evidence for terror management theory. Unpublished manuscript, Universitat Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
54.
Pyszczynski, T., Greenberg, J., & Solomon, S. (1997). Why do we need what we need? A terror management perspective on the roots of human social motivation. Psychological Inquiry, 8, 1-20.
55.
Pyszczynski, T., Wicklund, R. A., Floresky, S., Koch, S., Gauch, G., Solomon, S., & Greenberg, J. (1996). Exaggerated estimates of social consensus in response to incidental reminders of mortality. Psychological Science.
56.
Rank, O. (1978). Truth and reality. New York: Knopf. (Original work published 1936)
57.
Rank, O. (1989). Art and artist: Creative urge and personality development. New York: Knopf. (Original work published 1932)
58.
Rosenblatt, A., Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., Pyszczynski, T., & Lyon, D. (1989). Evidence for terror management theory I: The effects of mortality salience on reactions to those who violate or uphold cultural values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 681-690.
59.
Ross, L., Greene, D., & House, P. (1977). The "false consensus effect": An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes. Journal of Experi mental Social Psychology, 13, 279-301.
60.
Sanders, G. S., & Mullen, B. (1983). Accuracy in perception of consensus: Differential tendencies of people with majority and minority positions. European Journal of Social Psychology, 13, 57-70.
61.
Sherman, S. J., Presson, C. C., & Chassin, L. (1984). Mechanisms underlying the false consensus effect: The special role of threats to self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 10, 127-138.
62.
Shibutani, T. (1961). Society and personality: An interactionist approach to social psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
63.
Smith, P. B., & Bond, M. H. (1993). Social psychology across cultures: Analysis and perspectives. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
64.
Snyder, C. R., & Endelman, J. R. (1979). Effect of degree of interpersonal similarity on physical distance and self-reported attraction: A comparison of uniqueness and reinforcement theory predictions. Journal of Personality, 47, 492-505.
65.
Snyder, C. R., & Fromkin, H. L. (1980). Uniqueness: The human pursuit of difference. New York: Plenum.
66.
Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & Pyszczynski, T. (1991). A terror management theory of social behavior: The psychological functions of self-esteem and cultural worldviews. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 24, pp. 91-159). New York: Academic Press.
67.
Srull, T. K., & Gaelick, L. (1983). General principles and individual differences in the self as a habitual reference point: An examination of self-other judgements of similarity. Social Cognition, 2, 108-121.
68.
Suls, J., Wan, C. K., & Sanders, G. S. (1988). False consensus and false uniqueness in estimating the prevalence of health protective behaviors. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 18, 66-79.
69.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
70.
Tesser, A. (1980). Self-esteem maintenance in family dynamics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 77-91.
71.
Triandis, H. C. (1989). Cross-cultural studies of individualism and collectivism. In J. J. Berman (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium of Motivation (Vol. 37, pp. 41-133). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
72.
Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1991). The PANAS-X: Preliminary manual for the Positive and Negative Affect Schedul-Expanded Form. Unpublished manuscript, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX.
