Robinson's Podcast 158 - Sheldon Solomon: Terror Management Theory and the Denial of Death
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Oct 25, 2023 Sheldon Solomon, Professor of Psychology, talks about terror management theory and the influence of Ernest Becker's 'The Denial of Death'. The discussion covers topics such as self-esteem, Freud's denial of death anxiety, the pursuit of meaning through heroism, flaws in Becker's book, origins of terror management theory, and achieving self-esteem from intrinsic sources.
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Becker Reframes Self-Esteem As Death Defense
- Ernest Becker gave a unifying explanation: self-esteem defends against existential terror caused by awareness of death.
- Sheldon Solomon and colleagues built empirical work on Becker's idea to test why humans pursue meaning and value.
Solomon's Childhood Realization Of Mortality
- Solomon recalls first realizing mortality at eight and being personally drawn to Becker's ideas about death denial.
- That personal resonance motivated his long-term research into terror management.
Self-Esteem Functions As An Anxiety Buffer
- Becker defines self-esteem as perceiving oneself as a person of value in a meaningful world and treats it as an anxiety buffer.
- Solomon's lab experimentally showed elevating self-esteem reduces reported anxiety and physiological arousal.