ABSTRACT

According to terror management theory, in a first study (N = 80), we tested the hypothesis that heroic perceptions of historic heroes would become more positive under mortality salience. Results, however, showed the opposite effect – heroic perceptions were less positive. To explain this unexpected finding, we referred to a social comparison perspective, assuming comparisons with a hero are likely to be unfavorable for one’s self-esteem. Two further (pre-registered) studies were conducted to test this idea. Mortality salience effects in Study 2 (N = 615) were not significant. However, using an improved experimental procedure in Study 3 (N = 600), heroic perceptions were indeed significantly less positive under MS, especially for participants with low trait self-esteem and low social comparison orientation.

摘要

根据恐怖管理理论，在第一项研究（N = 80）中，我们检验了以下假设：在死亡显着下，对历史英雄的英雄观念会变得更加积极。然而，结果却显示出相反的效果–英雄主义的看法不太积极。为了解释这一意外发现，我们参考了社会比较的观点，假设与英雄的比较可能不利于一个人的自尊。进行了另外两项（预注册）研究以验证该想法。研究2中的死亡率显着性影响（N = 615）不显着。但是，在研究3中使用改进的实验程序（N = 600），在MS下，英雄感的确确实不那么积极，特别是对于特质自尊心低和社会比较取向低的参与者。