Worldview and self-esteem defense is bidirectional with death-thought accessibility.

Evidence

Studies (see Greenberg et al., 2008) have consistently shown that these effects are unique to death reminders and do not occur in response to reminders of other aversive topics (e.g., pain, paralysis, uncertainty) or personally relevant threats (e.g., embarrassment, failure, meaninglessness). Furthermore, threatening aspects of the individual’s worldview or self-worth brings thoughts of death closer to consciousness (e.g., Schimel, Hayes, Williams, & Jahrig, 2007). Finally, engaging psychological defenses following MS allows people to let go of death-related thought (Arndt, Greenberg, Solomon, Pyszczynski, & Simon, 1997). — Jeff Greenberg and Spee Kosloff, Terror Management Theory, 19

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Death-thought accessibility does not mediate ingroup defense, while control motivation does. — Dmitrij Agroskin and Eva Jonas, Controlling death by defending…, 4; Death reminders uniquely trigger worldview and relationship defense, unlike other aversive threats. — Jeff Greenberg and Spee Kosloff, Terror Management Theory: Implications…, 19; Self-esteem functions as protection against the terror of death — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core: On the Role of…, 114 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Death-awareness drives humans to cling to cultural worldviews and self-esteem #expands (0.88) — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 476
• Empirical support for death-thought accessibility mediating terror-management effects on ingroup defense remains unsettled. #complicates (0.86) — Dmitrij Agroskin and Eva Jonas, Controlling death by defending ingroups, 35
• Subtle death reminders drive worldview defense, self-esteem striving, and unhealthy behavior. #expands (0.85) — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 763
• Death-thought accessibility does not mediate mortality salience effects on ingroup defense. #complicates (0.85) — Dmitrij Agroskin and Eva Jonas, Controlling death by defending ingroups, 160
• Self-esteem functions as protection against the terror of death #expands (0.82) — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 114
• Awareness of mortality drives people to defend cultural worldviews that give life meaning. #expands (0.80) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1488
• Self-esteem protection may come from combined inward- and outward-directed defenses #expands (0.75) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1099