Disability salience as an indicator of loss anxiety: an alternative explanation for the fundamental fear of human beings

Download

index.pdf

Date

2011

Author

Atabey, Cemile Müjde

Metadata

Show full item record

Item Usage Stats

306
views

106
downloads

The aim of the present research was to investigate the issue of loss anxiety within the framework of disability and terror management theory. A questionnaire package was administered to 217 participants twice to examine the effects of mortality salience and disability salience. Besides mortality salience, paralysis salience was found to be effective. Highly conservative participants were becoming more conservative in the paralysis salience and mortality salience conditions. Content analysis was also conducted relating the participants’ accounts. It was concluded that death and disability were both inducing sadness for the participants. However, this sadness experience could have two different formats. The relation between experimental manipulations and global sadness accounts was not significant. However, the relationship between experimental manipulations and individual sadness accounts was significant. Participants in the mortality salience condition were experiencing less individual sadness than expected. In contrast, participants in the paralysis salience condition were experiencing more individual sadness than expected. It is concluded that death may not be the one and only fundamental fear as terror management theory suggests. Disability might be as fearful as death. A theoretical model is proposed for the alternative experimental manipulation in terror management theory studies. According to this conceptualization, an experimental manipulation could be successful if it satisfies the following three conditions: moderately fearful, highly imaginable/easily available and highly self-relevant. Any kind of loss which satisfies these conditions might result in cultural worldview defense. The threatening nature of disability might provide one more reason relating the importance of a disability-friendly environment.

Subject Keywords

Psychiatric disability evaluation., Psychology Phd thesis

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12613204/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/21213

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

Looming vulnerability and perfectionism as mediating factors among parental bonding, social anxiety and depression Altan-Atalay, Ayşe; Ayvaşık, H. Belgin; Fısıloğlu, Hürol; Department of Psychology (2011) Looming Maladaptive Style (LMS) was proposed to be an anxiety specific cognitive vulnerability factor. Perfectionism also acts as a vulnerability to both anxiety disorders and depression. Parenting is another factor associated with both anxiety and depression, with a majority of studies focusing on care and overprotection dimensions of parenting. These parenting dimensions have been reported to be associated with vulnerabilities to psychological disorders. The present study, aims to investigate the parental...
Secure exploration :conceptualization, types, and relationship with secure attachment, self-construals and other self-related variables İmamoğlu, Selen; İmamoğlu, Emine Olcay; Department of Psychology (2005) The aim of the present study was to enhance understanding of secure exploration within the perspective of attachment theory and Imamoglu's (2003) Balanced Integration-Differentiation (BID) model. A two-dimensional model of exploration was proposed consisting of trust for self and approaching the unknown, and scales were developed to study exploration separately from attachment both as a general and a domain-specific (i.e., cognitive, relational, self-related, spatial, and time-related) orientation. A questi...
Direct and indirect effects of social support on psychological well-being Gençöz, Tülin (Scientific Journal Publishers Ltd, 2004-01-01) The aim of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of social support on psychological well-being. Social support was evaluated under two different categories which were named as Aid-Related and Appreciation-Related Social Support. The first category was more related to potential for receiving help from others when needed, and being cared for by others, while the latter category was more related to being recognized by others as an efficient source of help and reassurance of worth. Under...
factors related to psychological problems and life satisfaction of newcomer turkish ımmigrants in the netherlands Hünler, Olga Selin; Gençöz, Tülin; Department of Psychology (2007) The aim of this study is to investigate the vulnerability stress model in prediction of the psychological problems and life satisfaction of newcomer Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands. Vulnerability factors were considered to be personal characteristics of immigrants which they had both prior and after to their arrival. Stress factors, on the other hand, were selected based on the immigrants’ experiences after their arrival. Depending upon this distinction, attachment, independent and interdependent self...
Executive functions in children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder Saydam Bahçivan, Reyhan; Ayvaşık, H. Belgin; Department of Psychology (2007) Aim of the present study was to evaluate executive functions (EF) such as inhibition, planning, working memory, set-shifting in children with Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) via comparison of three ADHD subtype groups (ADHD-I, ADHD-C and ADHD-Comorbid) and a normal control group. Participants consist of 147 children. Total of 111 children were assigned into the ADHD groups of the study. Thirty seven children (5 girl and 32 boys) were assigned into the ADHD-Inattentive group, thirty seven c...

Citation Formats

C. M. Atabey, “Disability salience as an indicator of loss anxiety: an alternative explanation for the fundamental fear of human beings,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2011.