Joel D. Lieberman

Terror management and aggression: evidence that mortality salience motivates aggression against worldview-threatening others.

The hypothesis that mortality salience (MS) motivates aggression against worldview-threatening others was tested in 4 studies. In Study 1, the experimenters induced participants to write about either their own death or a control topic, presented them with a target who either disparaged their political views or did not, and gave them the opportunity to choose the amount of hot sauce the target would have to consume. As predicted, MS participants allocated a particularly large amount of hot sauce to the worldview-threatening target. In Studies 2 and 3, the authors found that following MS induction, the opportunity to express a negative attitude toward the critical target eliminated aggression and the opportunity to aggress against the target eliminated derogation. This suggests that derogation and aggression are two alternative modes of responding to MS that serve the same psychological function. Finally, Study 4 showed that MS did not encourage aggression against a person who allocated unpleasant juice to the participant, supporting the specificity of MS-induced aggression to worldview-threatening others.

A hot new way to measure aggression: Hot sauce allocation

Laboratory experiments investigating aggressive behavior have operationalized and assessed aggression in a variety of ways; however, these measures are often problematic because they do not create a situation in which participants perceive potential for real harm to come to the target, there is a risk of actual harm to the target, or they are too familiar to participants. To overcome these limitations, we developed a new method for measuring aggression, specifically, the amount of hot sauce administered to a target known to dislike spicy foods. We summarize a series of experiments assessing theory-based hypotheses regarding aggression in which this measure is employed. We then briefly consider the strengths and limitations of this new measure. Aggr. Behav. 25:331–348, 1999.

Inner Terror and Outward Hate: The Effects of Mortality Salience on Bias Motivated Attacks

In 2008, a year that an African American man was elected President of the United States, and same sex unions were temporarily legalized in California and recognized in New York, reminders of intolerance and prejudice remained strong. Immediately following the election of Barack Obama, there was a surge in bias motivated attacks across the country, with derogating and intimidating remarks delivered by adults and even children as young as second-graders (Associated Press 2008). Further, shortly after the same sex unions were legalized in California, a majority of California voters supported “Proposition 8,” restricting the definition of marriage to that of a union between a man and a woman. In addition, during the previous year, nooses were displayed in various locations throughout the country such as on school grounds in Jena, Louisiana and on college campuses including the University of Maryland and Columbia University (Associated Press 2007). In addition, on February 12, 2008, in Oxnard California, an eighth-grader, 15-year old Lawrence King, was shot in the head and killed by a fellow student, 14-year old, Brandon McInerney. Apparently King, who often dressed in a feminine manner, had asked McInerney to be his valentine the day earlier (Newsweek 2008). These types of bias motivated attacks as well as others that have previously captured the nation’s attention reveal the darker side of humanity. Although basic cognitive processes that cause individuals to classify others as either ingroup or outgroup members are likely relevant in such attacks, basic categorization on its own may not be sufficient to unleash the anger that is sometimes apparent in hate crimes, such as that of the King murder. As a result, these crimes require additional psychological explanations to help us more clearly understand the underlying motivations that produce such behaviors. This chapter will explore a variety of social psychological theories that have been used to explain prejudicial attitudes and behavior that foster bias motivated crimes, with a particular focus on Terror Management Theory.