Effect of Death Anxiety on the Pursuit of Unhealthy Values and Aspirations; Studies in the Field of Social Psychology

In this research the relationship between death anxiety with unhealthy values and aspirations (wealth, fame, attractiveness, conformity, hedonism) are examined under two studies.
First study is descriptive and correlational. 457 students were selected by convenience sampling method and completed the Templer Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) and Aspiration Index (AI). In the second study that is experimental and by posttest with control group design. 204 students were selected by convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned to three experimental groups (reminding own death extrinsic aspirations, conformity and hedonism), one control group (reminding topic unrelated to own death).By using the task of called death-related thoughts and the Aspiration Index tested the effect of remind of death on the unhealthy values among them.
In the first study a positive association between importance of attractiveness, conformity and hedonism with death anxiety and its subscales was observed by using the Pearson correlation coefficient. The results of MANOVA in the second study showed that mortality salience decreased importance of unhealthy values in the experimental groups compared to the control group. Also, the effectiveness of mortality salience on importance of attractiveness and hedonism was meaningful.
The results discussed in accordance with the principles of humanistic and existential schools and two contemporary theories in the field of social and personality psychology namely Self-Determination Theory and Terror Management Theory.