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Death anxiety: "state" or "trait"?

C G Pettigrew, J G Dawson

    Journal of Clinical Psychology
    |January 1, 1979
    PubMed
    Summary
    This summary is machine-generated.

    Hypnosis, alpha biofeedback, and prestige suggestion did not reduce experimentally induced death anxiety. The study suggests death anxiety may be a stable trait rather than a temporary state.

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    Area of Science:

    • Psychology
    • Anxiety Studies
    • Cognitive Science

    Background:

    • Death anxiety is a significant concern in psychological research.
    • Understanding factors that influence death anxiety is crucial for mental health.
    • Previous interventions have explored various methods to alleviate death anxiety.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate the efficacy of hypnosis, alpha biofeedback, prestige suggestion, and silence in reducing experimentally induced death anxiety.
    • To determine if these interventions can attenuate short-term increases in death anxiety.
    • To explore the nature of death anxiety as a state versus trait phenomenon.

    Main Methods:

    • Forty female undergraduates were exposed to an experimental manipulation designed to increase death anxiety.

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  • Participants received one of four treatments: hypnosis, prestige suggestion, alpha biofeedback, or a waiting period.
  • Death anxiety was measured using multiple instruments, including word association, response latency, and standardized scales, before and after the intervention.

    • Main Results:

    • Analysis of variance revealed no significant differences between the treatment groups in their ability to reduce death anxiety.
    • None of the interventions, including hypnosis and biofeedback, effectively attenuated the experimentally induced increases in death anxiety.
    • The study found no significant effect of the interventions on measures of emotional associations, response latencies, or anxiety scales.

    Conclusions:

    • The findings suggest that experimentally induced death anxiety may not be a transient state but rather a more stable trait.
    • Hypnosis, alpha biofeedback, and prestige suggestion were ineffective in altering short-term fluctuations in death anxiety.
    • Further research is needed to explore long-term interventions and individual differences in trait death anxiety.