Self-Ingroup Overlap in the Face of Mortality Salience

Abstract

This article examines the prediction derived from terror management theory that mortality salience increases self-ingroup overlap. The theory provides the notion that people support their cultural worldview when mortality is salient. The authors tested how people in fear of death become attached to their ingroups with respect to cognitive overlap of the self and ingroups. The overlap was measured by assessing the mental representations between the self and ingroup. Response time analysis showed that participants in the mortality salient condition rated self-ingroup matching traits faster than they did mismatching traits, whereas mortality salience did not affect self-outgroup overlap. These results confirmed our hypothesis that the fear of death invokes enhanced self-ingroup overlap whereby people defend their cultural worldview. The findings were discussed in the context of the relationship between terror management and overlaps of the self and ingroup.