Effects of Self-Esteem and Mortality Salience on Attitudes Toward Canadian Security: Exploring the Significance of Implicit-Explicit and Personal- Collective Distinctions (Les Effets de L'Estime de soi et de la Pregnance de la Mort sur les Attitudes a L'Egard de la Securite Canadienne: Analyse de L'Importance des Distinctions entre Implicite et Explicite d'une Part et entre Personnel et Collectif D'Autre Part)

摘要

Terror Management Theory (TMT) proposes that, due to the unique ability of humans to understand that life is finite, we have developed buffers against the anxiety of such a potentially devastating awareness. These buffers include an adherence to a meaningful cultural worldview and a secure sense of self esteem. To date, TMT research has focused almost exclusively on personal mortality salience (MS); however, the present study aimed to understand the implications of threats made to the source of one's anxiety buffer by creating a collective MS threat. Furthermore, the current study attempted to assess the impact of MS on personal beliefs about one's own and others commitment to Canada, as well as domestic and foreign policies in situations where their Canadian identity was either primed or not. Civilian participants (N = 123) completed measures of implicit and explicit personal and collective self esteem, were exposed to one of three MS conditions (control, personal MS, or collective MS) and one of two prime conditions (Canadian flag present or absent). While the Canadian identity prime had no impact on commitment to Canada or attitudes towards Canadian security, personal MS interacted with both implicit and explicit personal self esteem in its impact on personal commitment towards Canada and beliefs about the others' obligations towards Canada. The effects of the collective MS condition combined with implicit and explicit collective self esteem also influenced personal commitment and beliefs about others' obligations, as well as support for extreme domestic policies. The implications of these findings for extreme beliefs in support of a threatened cultural worldview are discussed.