Knowing how death awareness drives defenses enables more self-determined choices
Evidence
But the vast knowledge we have now about the pervasive influence of the awareness of death on human affairs may give us some purchase on how we can get better at living out our mortal lives. We believe that the ideas in this book provide a powerful way to understand yourself and the world you live in. And we hope that knowing how conscious and unconscious death thoughts instigate a host of unfortunate psychological and behavioral defenses enables you to monitor and alter such reactions. In turn, you can be more self-determined in the choices you make and the actions you take. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 816
Related
- No account of human behavior is complete without the awareness of death (similarity 0.89)
- People unaware of their death fears are nonetheless governed by layered psychological defenses (similarity 0.88)
- Distal defenses minimize the occasions that proximal defenses must handle (similarity 0.87)
- People are generally oblivious to death yet it shapes their experience (similarity 0.87)
- Death awareness would have been lethal without simultaneous cultural adaptations to deny it (similarity 0.87)
- Death’s most powerful influence operates unseen in normal life (similarity 0.86)
- Conscious and unconscious death thoughts trigger different defense systems (similarity 0.86)
- Prolonged death contemplation keeps mortality thoughts conscious and suppresses defensive reactions (similarity 0.85)
- Conscious death thoughts require delay to trigger worldview defenses (similarity 0.85)
- Without proximal defenses people would be perpetually panicking about death (similarity 0.85)
- Accepting mortality reduces destructive unconscious death fears (similarity 0.84)
- People pursue self-destructive trends most avidly when death thoughts are unconscious (similarity 0.84)
- Accepting mortality can make life more meaningful and compassionate (similarity 0.84)
- Children fear death more than parents realize they do (similarity 0.83)
- Fear of death ultimately reduces to thwarted biological survival instinct. (similarity 0.83)