Terror in time: extending culturomics to address basic terror management mechanisms

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Computational Linguistics
• Cultural History

Background:

• Terror Management Theory (TMT) posits that humans manage existential anxiety by adhering to cultural worldviews and seeking self-esteem.
• Previous TMT research often relies on experimental or survey methods.
• A novel approach is needed to examine TMT processes within broad historical contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate a methodology for analyzing historical word frequencies to study Terror Management Theory (TMT).
• To identify and replicate terror management processes in American literature spanning 209 years (1800-2009).
• To investigate temporal variations in the usage of words related to death, worldview, self-esteem, and relationships.

Main Methods:

• Developed a database of annual word frequencies for the 40,000 most common words in American literature (1800-2009).
• Analyzed co-variation over time in word usage for constructs relevant to TMT, such as 'death', 'worldview', 'self-esteem', and 'relationships'.
• Conducted three studies examining the temporal relationships between death-related words and other conceptual domains (e.g., patriotism, medical terms, sentiment).

Main Results:

• Study 1 confirmed that word usage related to death and constructs like patriotism and romantic relationships significantly co-vary over time.
• Study 2 revealed that 'death' word frequency correlates most strongly with medical terms, but also with violence, relationships, religion, and sentiment.
• Study 3 demonstrated that increased use of death-related words is associated with heightened use of fear-related words, but not anxiety-related words.

Conclusions:

• The word frequency analysis methodology provides valuable insights into Terror Management Theory (TMT) in a historical context.
• Temporal shifts in language use reflect underlying psychological processes related to mortality salience and self-preservation.
• This approach offers new perspectives for theoretical advancements and empirical investigation of TMT.