Terror Management Theory and Self-Esteem

Terror Management Theory (TMT)

• Proposed by Solomon et al. (1991) to explain the human need for self-esteem
• People are motivated to maintain a positive self-image because self-esteem protects them from anxiety
• Self-esteem serves as a buffer against death anxiety
• TMT proposes that the link between self-esteem and protection from anxiety develops in early childhood through interactions with parents
• Parent's love and protection can show goodness and value, which can help children internalize these standards
• Meeting these internalized standards (self-esteem) becomes associated with feelings of safety and security

Research Supporting TMT

• Greenberg's study: increasing self-esteem reduces anxiety and defensiveness in response to threatening stimuli
• Study: mortality salience (MS) increases the need for faith in one's worldview

Criticisms of TMT

• Questioning whether fear of death is a universal motivating force
• Alternate explanations for MS effects, such as motives for uncertainty reduction, meaning, and belonging
• MS can lead to opposing effects

Stigma and Well-being

• Stigma: any characteristic that marks a person for social devaluation
• Stigma can lead to negative experiences, including anger, anxiety, low self-esteem, stress, and shame
• Coping strategies: restricting comparisons to within-group members, disengaging from dimensions, and attributing negative outcomes to the prejudice of others
• Attributing negative outcomes to prejudice can help maintain self-esteem, but may not always be protective
• The Social Cure: group identification can be an important source of support and help protect against negative experiences

Realistic Conflict Theory (RCT)

• Proposed by Campbell: people's attitudes towards ingroup and outgroup members reflect the objective interests of the ingroup
• RCT assumes that:
  • If interests of two groups coincide, relations between groups will be relatively harmonious
  • If there is conflict between the two groups, relations between groups will become hostile
• Evidence Supporting RCT:
  • Explains various conflicts, such as those between men and women, Palestinians and Israelis, Catholics and Protestants, and racial groups
  • Economic competition has been linked to intergroup violence
  • RCT can account for historical specificity of prejudice
• Criticisms and Limitations:
  • Methodological issues with Sherif's studies
  • RCT may oversimplify the causes of intergroup conflict
  • Assumes conflict is always perceived as a zero-sum game

The Contact Hypothesis

• Proposed by Allport (1954): intergroup conflict can be reduced by bringing groups into contact under certain conditions
• Conditions:
  • Equal status
  • Common goals
  • Intergroup cooperation
  • Support of authorities
  • Acquaintance or friendship potential
• Evidence Supporting the Contact Hypothesis:
  • Early evidence: desegregation of the merchant marine in 1948
  • Studies of white housewives in desegregated housing projects
  • Recent evidence from various groups
  • Meta-analysis: significant effect size across 714 independent samples and 250,000 people
• Evidence:
  • Extended contact, vicarious contact, and imagined contact have also been shown to reduce prejudice
  • The Secondary Transfer Effect: contact between two groups can lead to reduced prejudice towards other ethnic minorities
• Criticisms and Limitations:
  • Assumption that contact reduces prejudice through reduced ignorance has been questioned
  • Generalization of effects has been a concern
  • Typicality of outgroup members in contact situations is important for generalization
  • Debate about the psychological processes involved in contact

Genocide and the Holocaust

• Genocide: an attempt to exterminate a group by creating conditions that lead to the group's destruction
• Mass killing: killing group members without the intention to eliminate the whole group
• Holocaust: 6 million Jews killed, 5 million others killed
• Factors contributing to genocide:
  • Difficult life conditions
  • Certain cultural-societal characteristics
  • Continuum of destruction
• Psychological consequences:
  • Threat to self-concept
  • Feeling disorganized and anxious
• Resolving the problem of genocide can lead to turning against outgroups
• Bystanders:
  • Can change as a result of their actions
  • Can distance themselves from the victim and think they deserve their fate
  • Help prop up the system and allow genocide to happen
  • Internal and external bystanders

Social Identity Theory (SIT)

• Developed by Tajfel and Turner: aims to explain intergroup behavior and discrimination
• Key assumptions and processes:
  • Social categorization to simplify the complex social world
  • Formation of a 'social identity' or 'social self'
  • Inherent need to evaluate the self positively
  • Comparisons with relevant outgroups lead to a positive social identity and self-esteem
• Evidence Supporting SIT:
  • Studies provide support for SIT's predictions regarding the link between social identity and intergroup discrimination
• Criticisms and Limitations:
  • Relationship between self-esteem and intergroup discrimination is more complex than initially proposed
  • SIT does not always predict intergroup discrimination as a means of enhancing self-esteem
  • Theory's predictions may not hold in all contexts