FIGURE 2.11
Worldview Defense after Mortality Reminders
According to terror management theory, cultural worldviews protect people against mortality fears. Consequently, people primed to think about their deaths—that is, in a state of mortality salience—adhere more closely to their cultural worldview. In this study, after being reminded of death, judges imposed more punitive judgments on a prostitute, because prostitution violates the cultural worldview’s standards for good and bad behavior.

[Data source: Rosenblatt et al. (1989)]