Reconsidering terror management theory in Japan

Abstract

This study investigated the replicability and theoretical validity of terror management theory (TMT). The proposition that mortality salience (MS) leads humans to defend their cultural worldviews has found support in Western cultures. This finding was also replicated in Japan, a non-Western culture (Heine et al., 2002); however, there are limited findings of Japan. The meaning maintenance model proposes that cultural worldview defense is the result of meaning violation (MV) rather than anxiety of death. To investigate TMT in Japan, we conducted an internet survey among people in their 20s and 50s. We examined the effects of three experimental manipulations (MS, MV, and control) on cultural worldview defense. Results indicated that individuals in their 50s in the MS condition had a reaction opposite to the one described by Heine et al. (2002) and MV manipulation showed no effect. This suggests that cultural worldview defense did not occur in Japanese individuals.