Meaning threats and their affirmation responses are content-free and general across domains.

Evidence

To make sense of the relations between uncanny experiences and meaning affirmation, it is important to consider why it is that people seek meaning from their experiences at all. The meaning maintenance model claims that people are motivated to organize their thoughts and experiences into meaning frameworks, which are their mental representations of expected associations. When people have experiences that threaten expected associations—regardless of the content— they experience an aroused state that motivates them to regain meaning by affirming an alternative meaning framework. Importantly, the meaning maintenance model proffers that this affirmation occurs even if the alternative framework shares no content with the meaning framework that was threatened. — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 15

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the meaning-maintenance model as a content-free mechanism where any threat to expected associations triggers affirmation of any alternative meaning framework.
• XREF: This articulates exactly the core theoretical claim behind the reader’s purpose — that intergroup threat effects are a special case of a broader meaning-maintenance system; connects to Greenberg, Pyszczynski & Solomon’s terror management theory. — connects to: Meaning threats trigger affirmation of whatever meaning frameworks are handy — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 3; Compensation for meaning threat operates through affirmation of alternative meaning frameworks. — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 39; Defense responses may reflect a general meaning-maintenance motive rather than content-specific threat protection — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 19 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Meaning threats evoke a content-independent need for meaning structure #corroborates (0.90) — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 64
• Defense responses may reflect a general meaning-maintenance motive rather than content-specific threat protection #corroborates (0.88) — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 19
• Compensation for meaning threat operates through affirmation of alternative meaning frameworks. #expands (0.82) — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 39