Denial of Death in Close Encounters

Abstract

Research in the area of death-attitudes has resulted in three widely accepted propositions: (1) that death creates fear, but (2) that respondents often profess little fear of death and, therefore, (3) are denying their fear of death. This last proposition serves as an explanation for the contradiction between the first two but has received little empirical support. In situations of immediate death threats, people often react with fear and with actions to avoid danger. In more remote (attitude-tapping) situations, researchers are unjustified in assuming that fear must be evoked. This differentiation between immediate and remote reactions to death makes the concept of defense unnecessary as a universal explanation for death attitudes.