The Terror Management Theory Essay -- Psychology, Fear of Death

more may agree with the old saying that beauty is only scratch up deep, but does beauty come in a instigateicular tint of color? This question is very debatable for many, but the fact of the involvement is that human beings atomic number 18 born in array of throw together tones. These differences in skin tone are used to categorize tidy sum into distinguishable ethnic groups. Lopez proposes thatethnic private identity is a type of group identity that is related to a better outcome because it provides a sense of be or cultural embeddedness.(p.102) Dr. Ronald Hall (2006) suggests that in America minorities or people of color are called black in relative terms to the volume who are of European descent i.e. white. Some studies have discovered that a more ethnic appearance is usually assessed by a darker skin color i.e, black and is associated with a worse outcome in outlastlihood (Lopez, 2008) In contrast, beauty, wealth and overall appeal are associated with physiologic al proximity to the white power structure i.e., light skin. (Hall, 2006) It appears as though lovable skin complexions are culturally relative. The terror management theory is a motivational theory which speculates that human beings have an underlying fear of death. These feelings are managed within that person by developing or maintaining a two- part cultural anxiety buffer an respective(prenominal) worldview and a sense of egotism value or self-esteem. (Pyszczynski,Greenberg, & Solomon, 1997) According to the theory, high self-esteem reflects the successful companionship in and internalization of meaningful cultural worldview. (Schmeichel, Gailliot, Filardo, MrGregor, Gitter, &Baumeister 2009) Goldenberg and Shakelford (2005) suggested that the motif for self-esteem is a great deal seen as the master motive that underlies much o... ...ive.Those who engage themselves in processes much(prenominal) as tanning or skin bleaching do so to wait on boost their self-esteem. From the perspective of the terror management theory, individuals are motivated to live up to cultural standards because doing so grants self-esteem. The boost in self-esteem acts as a buffer for potential anxiety relative to awareness of personal immortality. (Cox et al., 2009)TMT determines that people aim to live up to social standards in range deal with personal insecurities about dying. If a psychological structure provides shelter from thoughts about death, then reminding people of death will increase the need for that structure. (Goldenberg, Pyzszcsynski, Greenberg,Solomon, Kluck, &Cornwall, 2001) Within terms of this study, it is speculated that as mortality salience increases, so does an individuals need to alter his own skin color.