This study investigated the relationship between the extent of defensive responding on a perceptual recognition task and score on the Handal death anxiety scale. The results did not confirm the hypothesis that perceptually defensive respondents (those with elevated thresholds for death words as opposed to neutral words) would tend to have lower scores on the death anxiety inventory. Additional research into multilevel criteria of death anxiety is suggested along with improving the internal consistency of the Handal death anxiety scale.
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