Effect of Mortality Salience on Weapon Bias

Abstract

The research tested the hypothesis that reminding individuals of their mortality would increase weapon bias as predicted by Terror Management Theory (TMT, Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986). Prior research has shown that mortality salience (MS) increases both explicit prejudice (i.e. self-report questionnaires) and implicit bias (Bradley, Kennison, Burke, & Chaney, 2010). In the experiment, participants were randomly assigned to either describe the emotions that the thought of their own death arouses in them (mortality salience, MS) or to describe their feelings toward an upcoming exam (control). All participants then completed a computer task where a picture of a White individual or a picture of a Black individual was flashed. This picture was followed by a picture of a hand tool or of a weapon. This task is referred to as the weapon bias task. Previous research has shown that individuals are more likely to misidentify a hand tool as a weapon when it is preceded by a picture of a Black (versus White) individual. The results revealed that individuals in the mortality salience condition made more errors on the task. Additionally participants in the mortality salience condition had more errors for the combination Black/Tool than the control group reflecting a pattern of increased weapon bias.