LE3 .A278 2020

2020

Hayes, Joseph

Acadia University

Bachelor of Science

Honours

Psychology

Psychology

Death-thought accessibility (DTA) has traditionally been measured in Terror Management Theory (TMT) studies using implicit techniques, such as reaction-time measures or word-fragment completion tasks. However, recent research indicates that these measures may actually influence the phenomenon that they attempt to assess. Specifically, the mere act of completing a DTA measure can prime thoughts of death, thereby making participants more prone to death-thoughts and contaminating participant responses. In light of these findings the current study investigated the structure of a popular word-fragment completion measure of DTA. Specifically, the present study administered the word-fragment measure within a traditional TMT paradigm and manipulated the order of the death-related words within the word-fragment measure, based on normative death-completion frequencies. The primary hypothesis of the study was that higher-frequency death-fragments completed early-on in the task would be more likely to prime death and thereby contaminate the assessment of DTA in the remainder of the task. The results did not support this hypothesis. Participants who completed the word-fragment task which presented the death-fragments in ascending frequency order had increased DTA scores relative to those who completed the word-fragment task in the descending frequency order. Additionally, the present study failed to replicate traditional TMT patterns of DTA. Discussion is focused on implications for designing word-fragment measures of DTA in TMT research.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3441