Mortality salience increases personal relevance of the norm of reciprocity
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In: Psychological Reports, Vol. 111, No. 2, 10.2012, p. 565-574.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Mortality salience increases personal relevance of the norm of reciprocity
AU - Schindler, Simon
AU - Reinhard, Marc André
AU - Stahlberg, Dagmar
PY - 2012/10
Y1 - 2012/10
N2 - Research on terror management theory found evidence that people under mortality salience strive to live up to salient cultural norms and values, like egalitarianism, pacifism, or helpfulness. A basic, strongly internalized norm in most human societies is the norm of reciprocity: people should support those who supported them (i.e., positive reciprocity), and people should injure those who injured them (i.e., negative reciprocity), respectively. In an experiment (N = 98; 47 women, 51 men), mortality salience overall significantly increased personal relevance of the norm of reciprocity (M = 4.45, SD = 0.65) compared to a control condition (M = 4.19, SD = 0.59). Specifically, under mortality salience there was higher motivation to punish those who treated them unfavourably (negative norm of reciprocity). Unexpectedly, relevance of the norm of positive reciprocity remained unaffected by mortality salience. Implications and limitations are discussed.
AB - Research on terror management theory found evidence that people under mortality salience strive to live up to salient cultural norms and values, like egalitarianism, pacifism, or helpfulness. A basic, strongly internalized norm in most human societies is the norm of reciprocity: people should support those who supported them (i.e., positive reciprocity), and people should injure those who injured them (i.e., negative reciprocity), respectively. In an experiment (N = 98; 47 women, 51 men), mortality salience overall significantly increased personal relevance of the norm of reciprocity (M = 4.45, SD = 0.65) compared to a control condition (M = 4.19, SD = 0.59). Specifically, under mortality salience there was higher motivation to punish those who treated them unfavourably (negative norm of reciprocity). Unexpectedly, relevance of the norm of positive reciprocity remained unaffected by mortality salience. Implications and limitations are discussed.
KW - Psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84867787651&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2466/20.02.21.PR0.111.5.565-574
DO - 10.2466/20.02.21.PR0.111.5.565-574
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 23234099
AN - SCOPUS:84867787651
VL - 111
SP - 565
EP - 574
JO - Psychological Reports
JF - Psychological Reports
SN - 0033-2941
IS - 2
ER -