Do I Fear Death? The Effects of Mortality Salience on Anti-Consumption Lifestyles

摘要

How are individuals who voluntarily resist consumption affected by death thoughts? We looked at the impact of mortality salience (MS) on anticonsumption lifestyles. We found that high anticonsumption individuals were equally unlikely to consume in the control and MS conditions. However, low anticonsumption individuals were more likely to consume after death was made salient. Finally, anticonsumption lifestyles did not correlate with self-esteem, a known buffer of the effects of MS. Because MS did not change the consumption-related behaviors of high anticonsumption individuals, our findings suggest that consumption is not a relevant method for such individuals to recover their self-esteem. The findings also suggest that the adoption of an anticonsumption lifestyle buffers the effect of MS on participants' consumption-related behaviors.