Does intensity of stimulus and culture matter in death anxiety?

Two experiments were designed to study the effect of mortality salience (MS) and terror attack news on socioreligious attribution of Muslims in Pakistan. The first sample of students (n = 238) was taken from public and private universities of Pakistan. The age range of the sample was 18-37 years. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions: 2 (MS vs. pain salience) × 4 (non-Muslims attacking Muslims vs. Muslims attacking non-Muslims vs. Muslims attacking Muslims vs. weather news). Results indicated a non-significant main effect of MS (p = .83) on socioreligious attribution. Similarly, a non-significant interaction effect (p = .76.) on socioreligious attribution was found. However, the main effect of terror news was significant (p = .01). Post hoc analyses revealed that individuals exposed to the news video showing Muslims attacking non-Muslims scored significantly higher than the rest. Study II was conducted to compare the results of Study I by observing the effect of MS and four news videos after introducing MS through death simulation. The sample of students (n = 120) was taken from public and private universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The age range of the sample was 18-37 years. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions: 2 (MS vs. pain salience) × 4 (non-Muslims attacking Muslims vs. Muslims attacking non-Muslims vs. Muslims attacking Muslims vs. weather news). Results indicated a significant main effect of MS (p = .001) on socioreligious attribution. Similarly, findings indicated a significant interaction effect (ρ = .001) on socioreligious attribution. These studies were conducted within the culture and religion in question. Further studies on terror management theory are needed in Pakistan to benefit from the work being done on post-traumatic stress disorder with reference to Pakistan.