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It is our destiny to die: The effects of mortality salience and culture‐priming on fatalism and karma belief
Author(s) -
Yen ChihLong
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1080/00207594.2012.678363
Subject(s) - fatalism , karma , mortality salience , psychology , social psychology , priming (agriculture) , salience (neuroscience) , attribution , context (archaeology) , vignette , developmental psychology , theology , cognitive psychology , philosophy , buddhism , paleontology , botany , germination , biology
The current study explores whether Asians use culture‐specific belief systems to defend against their death anxiety. The effects of mortality salience (MS) and cultural priming on Taiwanese beliefs in fatalism and karma were investigated. Study 1 showed that people believe in fatalism and karma more following MS compared with the control condition. Study 2 found that the effect of MS on fatalism belief was stronger when Taiwanese were exposed to an Eastern cultural context than to a Western cultural context. However, a matched sample of Western participants did not show increased fatalism belief after either a West‐ or East‐prime task. The present research provides evidence that Asians may use some culture‐specific beliefs, particularly fatalism belief, to cope with their death awareness.