What Is Terror Management Theory?

Terror Management Theory (TMT) seeks to explain the defensive human mind and behavior resulting from our understanding and fear of death. According to TMT, anxiety of death will encourage us to adopt a view of the world that protects our pride, value, and sustainability and will lead us to believe that we play an important role in a meaningful world. We believe that the necessity to strengthen our cultural significance in the face of our survival instinct and death often leads to prejudice, we believe that the groups we identify are superior to other groups. In this way we will protect ourselves from the deep fear of confirming the importance of ourselves and living in a little life that will be destroyed forever by death. It suggests that TMT has the motivation to build intimate relationships in our own cultural community.

The theory of terrorism management was developed by Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon, Tom Pyszczynski and extended with the 2015 book "The Worm at the Core". The concept is based on the work of anthropologist Ernest Becker. The 1973 book, "Negation of Death" believes that most human behavior is to ignore or avoid mainly. The meaning of death Most psychologists believe that TMT is an evolutionary feature; understanding that humans are naturally dangerous is a means of continuing our gene pool. The serious existence anxiety brought about by this kind of knowledge is a shame byproduct of this evolutionary advantage.

Terror management theory is an empirically supported theory that explains self-esteem and the psychological function of culture. The theory suggests that people seek to maintain the belief that they are important contributors to meaningful space to minimize the terrible possibilities of their perception of their own mortality. Culture provides meaning to its members - the view of the world and the foundation of self-esteem to fulfill this terrorist management function. Former graduate students from the University of Kansas, Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski developed the theory of terrorism management in 1984. These social psychologists are looking for answers to two basic questions about human behavior. Why do people need self esteem? Why are there different cultures during the difficult times of coexistence during peace? Trio found a potential answer to these questions in the work of anthropologist Ernest Becker.

The Terror Management Theory (TMT) emphasizes that humans can respond to their perception of their own mortality through terrorism and people's beliefs about the human meaning can protect them from this terror. It is based on the view that it has sex. (Greenberg & Arndt, 2011). There is some strong evidence to prove the accuracy and applicability of this theory. For example, studies have shown that the outcome of self-esteem of an event is generally consistent with their assumption about how the same event accepts or rejects those events to others (Leary , Tambor, Terdal, & Downs, 1995).