The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens Terror Management Theory: How Existential Dread Has Shaped the World with Sheldon Solomon
Culture As A Death-Buffer
- Humans manage existential terror by constructing cultural worldviews that give life meaning and promise immortality.
- Self-esteem arises from meeting culturally defined role standards, which helps buffer death anxiety.
Awareness Creates Awe And Dread
- Human self-awareness produces both awe and dread because we uniquely foresee our mortality.
- This time-traveling consciousness requires cultural defenses to prevent debilitating existential terror.
Mortality Amplifies Political Identities
- Mortality salience pushes people to cling to their political identity and prefer ideologically similar others.
- Conservatives become more exclusionary under death reminders while liberals lean more tolerant.
Many of us wrestle with the unsettling truth that everyone – including ourselves and those we love – will one day die. Though this awareness is uncomfortable, research suggests that the human capacity to contemplate death is a byproduct of consciousness itself. In fact, our efforts to cope with mortality are at the core of culture, religion, the desire for wealth, and even many of today's societal crises. How might a deeper understanding of our implicit reactions to mortality help us turn towards responses that are more supportive of our species and planet?
In this episode, Nate is joined by Sheldon Solomon, a psychologist and co-developer of Terror Management Theory, which posits that while all living beings strive to survive, humans are unique in knowing that death is unavoidable. Solomon explores some of our instinctual coping mechanisms, including clinging to existing cultural worldviews and activities that bolster our self-esteem, even when they may have negative consequences for those around us. He also explains how these defensive mechanisms manifest in modern society, influencing politics, consumerism, and religious beliefs.
Why does our fear of death drive materialism and the endless hunger for "more"? How do reminders of death impact our attitudes toward people with different political or religious beliefs? And lastly, could practices rooted in mindfulness, gratitude, and awe help us to more skillfully relate to death anxiety by strengthening our relationships, giving to our community, and reveling in the expansive magnificence of the universe in which we get to inhabit?
(Conversation recorded on September 25th, 2025)
About Sheldon Solomon:
Sheldon Solomon is Professor of Psychology at Skidmore College. His research on the behavioral effects of the unique human awareness of death have been supported by the National Science Foundation and the Ernest Becker Foundation, and were featured in the award winning documentary film Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality.
Sheldon is the co-author of the book In the Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror and The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life. Additionally, he is an American Psychological Society Fellow, as well as a recipient of an American Psychological Association Presidential Citation (2007) and a Lifetime Career Award by the International Society for Self and Identity (2009).
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