Existential Cognition: Life and Death & our Minds
What does „existential“ mean?
Existential philosophy: Heidegger, Scheler, Marcel, Sartre, Camus, Leo Gabriel, Kierkegaard, Lersch, etc. Existential psychology / psychiatry: Binswanger, Boss, Moreno, Frankl, May, Yalom, Ernest Becker, Greenberg, Solomon und Pyszczynski
Topics: Search for meaning freedom coherence authenticity self actualisation finding / understanding our place in the world
ExPhil: by philosophical inquiry ExPsych: as a way of living, experiencing, and behaving
(Ex-sistere: to step out, to rise above, ) Looking at your life means: looking at something finite. Questions of Life = Questions about Death.
Exist.Phil: Our awareness of mortality raises human beings to Dasein = metaphysischer Ernst (Scheler) = Kierkegaard / Heidegger: Being towards death / Sein zum Tode
Man is being-towards-death (Kierkegaard /Heidegger)
“and being-towards-death is essentially Angst. “ = existential Angst as basic existential experience (Grunderfahrung) = we know about our transitoriness, and yet, everything in us revolts against it.
Kierkegaard „Nothingness as anticipation of our own death gives birth to Angst [as the ground of our being.].“
Kierkegaard „Nothingness as anticipation of our own death gives birth to Angst [as the ground of our being.].“
Psychological Questions: 1. Is this an accurate assessment? 2. How would this look like?
Empirical Question: (How) does the awareness of our eventual death and decay effect our everyday life and behaviour?
The Role of Death Awareness in Human Psychology
Ernest Becker (1924–1974)
the problem of man
Becker‘s basic problem of human existence: Two things define us: a. “Survival Instinct“ / Self-Preservation b. Awareness of the Inevitability of our Death (Death will always be victorious)
Desire for Self-Preservation (shared with other animals)
Annihilation anxiety
Cognitive Abilities (unique to humans)
Awareness of the inevitability of death
POTENTIAL TERROR ANXIETY FRIGHT FEAR
Terror Management Theory (Ernest Becker)
Terror Managament Theory
-> Panic -> Dealing with
Becker (1973):
“The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity - designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny of man.”
Becker (1973):
Awareness, and even fear, of death must be present in our everyday lives so that the organism protects itself against it.
Becker (1973):
At the same time, the knowledge of our inevitable death cannot be constantly in the focus of our attention; for otherwise, the organism would be mortified in terror.
Becker (1973):
At the same time, the knowledge of our inevitable death cannot be at the focus of our attention; for otherwise, the organism would be mortified in terror. But the truth is: All our striving is doomed to fail. There is no self-preservation. Only a delay perhaps. Hence the existential dilemma.
To sum it up: . Death will strike any time. . Potential terror whenever we let ourselves think about it realistically . We have to manage the potential terror of death awareness.
How do we manage the underlying fears? Defend
against death against annihilation fear against the existential dilemma
Three Defense Routes against death:
Rationalisation
(i.e. death is far away, let me live first)
Repression
(i.e. don‘t think about death)
Identification
(i.e. submerge your self with something which is less vulnerable) Family, Country, Church, …
1 Rationalisation: How often do we think about our inevitable death? How often do we think about the existential dilemma? … our vulnerability?
1 Rationalisation: When we hear about the death, sickness, accidents, etc. of others, we may say or think: “Not me …“ What we mean, however, is: “Not me now“ = Repression of our vulnerability
When total repression fails … or when we are reminded of our death Route 2: Identification: Being part of a greater group, belief system. Either makes sense of reality, reality randomness, death, suffering, and/or offers literal immortality or at least shares my values and is more enduring than I am and hence offers symbolic immortality
Cultural Worldview Defense:
Our Nation
“Race“
Our Culture
Our Church
Our God
Our Prophet
Club
Our People
Our Social Class
Our Leader
Our Party
Our Ideology
as anxiety buffers against potential terror
Identification / Cultural World Views: Being part of the group is not enough: 1. You have to be a recognized part of the group. 2. You learn this from childhood on. It becomes automatized, i.e. unconscious. 3. Automatic connection: death > protection seeking by identifying with your family, group, and their values.
.well-learned defense mechanism .automatic (uncontrolled) .unconscious, i.e. outside of conscious awareness.
Problem: When you see that „your group“ is but one of many ways to make sense of reality, its protective force is endangered. You realize that your cultural worldview is just one among many. But if the other worldview is only a human construct, how do you know that yours is any better? = Defense You devalue the other worldview = Intolerance.
Prediction: Being reminded of death, people will rationalize, repress death thoughts; and then become less tolerant of other worldviews or more defensive/aggressive when their worldviews are challenged.
The Terror Management Process in a nutshell 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Remind someone of his mortality. He will rationalize death away, then he will repress his death thoughts but now, identification (symbolic immortality) i.e. intolerant / defensive when other worldviews challenge their worldview.
This process is so well-learned: it is automatic (uncontrolled) and unconscious .
Rationalisation and repression just needs time: • •
Few, if any, conscious death thoughts No affective differences
⇒ Successfully repressed, but still there ⇒ Defense mechanism: Identification, worldview defense
MS
>1 Min.
COFF_ _ SK _ LL DE _ _ CO _ _ SE
COFFEE SKILL DEED COURSE
Conscious death thoughts
high
COFF_ _ SK _ LL DE _ _ CO _ _ SE
>1 Min.
> 10 Min.
COFFEE SKILL DEED COURSE
COFFIN SKULL DEAD CORPSE
Conscious death thoughts
high
low
Mortality Salience (MS) T-shirt with skull Questions about death Funeral music subliminal priming
Time(minutes) to repress and „activate“ Identification (symbolic immortality)
Test identification and: defense
Experimental Protocol
1. 2. 3. 4.
Death reminders vs. Pain vs. control group Time elapsed (rationalisation, repression) Read an essay Evaluate the writer: how likable / intelligent / would you like to meet him? 5. Conscious affect, etc.
This country lives with a lie. Its history is a history of shame and guilt, but only when forced to do so does it actively deal with its past and responsibility. It is small and unimportant, yet believes itself to be of utmost importance. This country is beautiful. It has wonderful natural resources, the alps, seas, etc. And though it is relatively small, it plays a significant role in world politics, culture and the sciences and succesfully asserts its interests against its neighbours.
How likable is the writer? 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9
Affect / Mood Scale 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9
4
3,1 3
3,1 3 2,9
2,9 2,8
2 Death
Pain
TV
Affect / Mood: No difference after repression
8 7,2
Critical
7
Praise
6 5
4,3
4,2
4,1
3,7
4 3 2 2 1 0 Death
Pain
TV
Likability Ratings per Condition: highly sign.
The effect of repressed death thoughts: Effect only occurs after repression, i.e. when death thoughts are outside of conscious focus! Without repression, no differences in defensive evaluation, but strong mood/affect difference Also: no conscious awareness of defensive evaluation Works without repression if death reminders are not consciously perceived
How valid and ecology valid is this? Rosenblatt et al. (1999) Subjects: Court Judges Case example, in “psychological study” Prostitute in Texas (illegal)
IV: Setting of Bail
US$ 100 – US$ 999
How valid is this? Rosenblatt et al. (1999) Experiment 1: Word test (Scramble sentences) Experiment 2: Some memory tests Experiment 3: Case example, in “psychological study” Prostitute in Texas (illegal)
IV: Setting of Bail for prostitute: anything between:
US$ 100 – US$ 999
How valid is this? Reasoning: Illegal behaviour = threat to worldview Hence: death-primed people should punish those how threaten their worldview stronger than those primed with pain. On the other hand: Judges should not punish others for their own existential problems with death anxiety. So perhaps no effect is expected? And yet: As judges, they perhaps cling especially strongly to the state laws as their cultural worldview. So perhaps there will be an effect?
Pain Words
55
Death Words
455
0
100 Bail set …
200
300
400
500
Rosenblatt et al. (1999) Exp. 2 Subjects: Jury (real) Case Example: Setting reward for woman who helps capturing thief IV: Reward
US$ 1.000 – US$ 4.000
Pain Words
1.112
Death Words
3.478
0
1.000 Reward
2.000
3.000
4.000
Utilizing TMT for donation appeals If death reminders lead to stronger identification with one‘s nation, does it affect donation behaviour, too? Experiment (Jonas, LMU Munich) Cond.1: Cemetery (TMT) Two streets away (Control group)
Donations for helping children in ethopia as a function of cemetery closeness
Two streets
2,12
Cemetary
0,67
0
0,5
1
1,5
2
2,5
Donations for children in Germany as a function of closeness to cemetery
TMT and its political dimension
Let‘s move towards Peace We live in One World
America‘s War against Terror America is a strong leader in the World
„Seating Study“: Everyday xenophobia and existential defensiveness Subjects believe that they are taking part in several unrelated studies Task 1: death words Task 2: memory and other tests (10 min) Task 3: go to waiting area for task 4
Waiting area: turkish student already sits there Question: Will death-reminded subjects be so defensive that they perceive a threat and thus distance themselves from a representative of another culture
Control group
Death group
Scope of TMT • Death reminders are everywhere (Cinema, TV, newspapers, cigarette packages, etc. etc.) • Death anxiety is (perhaps almost) universal • And so are social situations and encounters with others
Psychodynamics of Anxiety + No repression
Repression
Constructive, conscious reflection
Defensive, not consicous (because of repression) Destructive
Summary: • TMT-processes are very similar to neurotic processes • But on an existential level
Open questions: Are there boundary conditions? Do death reminders always lead to rigid behaviours? No: attachement atyle, afterlife beliefs, existentially honest philosophies of death -> No repression -> no worldview defense (coupled process)
Lab Existential Cognition: wedn, 14.00 Hs 3E, NIG
