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Love Acts as 'Terror Management' in Face
of Death
Fri Apr 26, 5:39 PM ET
By Alison McCook (Reuters Health) |
When fearing death, such as in times of war or other crises, it seems
that people tend to gravitate towards romantic attachments.
Now, a new study shows that this is indeed true, with people feeling more
committed to their romantic partner if subtly reminded of their own
mortality as opposed to being reminded of physical pain or a neutral
event.
Such romantic attachments may serve as "terror management," allowing an
individual to better tolerate the fact that they will die some day.
"The meaning of this result is that one of the reasons we form and
maintain our close relationships is to help us cope with the inevitability
of our death," said study author Dr. Gilad Hirschberger of Bar-Ilan
University in Israel.
Hirschberger added that this theory suggests that we are always somewhat
afraid of death, "but when reminded of death we raise our defenses against
the awareness of this threat" by seeking protection in our close
relationships.
The study authors base their findings on a series of experiments they
conducted with undergraduate students from Bar-Ilan University.
In one experiment, students who were asked to think about their own deaths
said they were more committed to their romantic relationships than those
who answered questions about something else unpleasant, such as physical
pain, or something neutral, such as watching television.
In another experiment, students who were asked to think about their
problems with their current romantic partner were more likely than those
who pondered academic problems or television to create death-associated
words in a word-completion task. This finding suggests that romantic
relationships serve to reduce our anxieties about death, but are less able
to do so when we think they are in jeopardy.
In an interview with Reuters Health, Hirschberger explained that some
people may turn to their close relationships when reminded of their own
death because, as infants, we feel most of our protection from attachments
to others.
Romantic closeness can also help us feel we are increasing our chances of
having children, which enables our genes to live on after we have died,
Hirschberger added.
As evidence for the protection romantic relationships offer us from our
fears of death, Hirschberger pointed to the events of September 11th, when
the last act of the people trapped in the World Trade Center buildings was
to call those they loved most.
"So if to take 9/11 as an example--or the situation in Israel--these
threats people experience seem to make them realize that their loved ones
are really all that matter, more than superficial goals and desires that
are otherwise important," he said.
SOURCE: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2002;82:527-542.
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