Terror Management Theory - TMT and Self-esteem

TMT and Self-esteem

Self-esteem lies at the heart of TMT, and is a fundamental part of its main experimental paradigms. TMT, fundamentally, seeks to elucidate the causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem, and theoretically, it draws heavily from Ernest Becker’s conceptions of culture and self-esteem (Becker, 1971; Becker, 1973). TMT does not just attempt to explain what self-esteem is, but rather tries to account for why we need self-esteem, and what psychological functions it may serve. The answer, according to TMT, is that self-esteem is used as a buffer for people to help them cope with anxiety; it is a coping mechanism set in place to help control their terror, along with realizing that humans are animals just trying to manage the universe around them. That is the "why". The "what" for TMT is that self-esteem is a sense of personal value, that is obtained by believing in two things:

1. the validity of one’s cultural worldview, and
2. that one is living up to standards that are part of the worldview.

Critically, Hewstone et al. (2002) have questioned the causal direction between self-esteem and death-anxiety, asking questions such as, if peoples' need for self-esteem comes from the overall desire to reduce their death anxiety, or if it is the opposite. Individuals' reduction of death anxiety is coming from their overall need to increase their self-esteem in a positive manner.

Research has demonstrated that in terms of health, self-esteem can play an important role. In some cases, people may be so concerned with their physical appearance and boosting their self-esteem that they ignore problems or concerns with their own physical health. Arndt et al. (2009) conducted three studies to examine how peer perceptions and social acceptance of smokers contributes to their quitting, as well as if, and why these people continue smoking for outside reasons, even when faced with thoughts of death and anti-smoking prompts. Tanning and exercising were also looked at in the researchers' studies. The studies found that people are influenced by the situations around them. Specifically, Arndt et al. (2009) found in terms of their self-esteem and health, that participants who saw someone exercising were more likely to increase their intentions to exercise. In addition, the researchers found in study two that how participants reacted to an anti-smoking commercial was affected by their motivation for smoking and the situation in which they were in. For instance, people who smoked for extrinsic reasons and were previously prompted with death reminders were more likely to be compelled by the anti-smoking message.