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Creatureliness priming reduces aggression and support for war.

Matt Motyl1, Joshua Hart, Douglas P Cooper

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USAUnion College, Schenectady, New York, USAJohnson C. Smith University, Charlotte, North Carolina, USAUniversity of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USAUniversity of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.

The British Journal of Social Psychology
|August 14, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Terror management theory suggests humans avoid animalistic traits to deny mortality. Studies show emphasizing human-animal similarities increases death thoughts but reduces aggression, potentially mitigating conflict.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Mortality Salience

Background:

  • Terror management theory (TMT) explains human self-preservation behaviors as a defense against death anxiety.
  • Humans often distance themselves from animals to manage existential concerns related to mortality.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if aggression, a shared human-animal trait, increases death-thought accessibility (DTA).
  • To examine if framing aggression as animalistic can reduce aggressive behavior and support for conflict.

Main Methods:

  • Participants were primed with human-animal similarities (creatureliness) or animalistic violence.
  • Aggressive behavior was measured via punching bag tasks.
  • Death-thought accessibility and support for war were assessed.

Main Results:

  • Priming creatureliness increased DTA after aggression (Study 1).
  • Creatureliness priming reduced punching bag frequency, force, and comfort (Studies 2a, 2b).
  • Viewing violence as animalistic increased DTA and decreased support for war (Study 3).

Conclusions:

  • Acknowledging human-animal similarities can heighten death awareness.
  • Portraying aggression as creaturely may reduce aggressive actions and support for violent conflict resolution.