Embodied Terror Management: Interpersonal Touch Alleviates Existential Concerns among Individuals with Low Self-Esteem

  • S.L. Koole (Contributor)
  • M. Tjew A Sin (Contributor)
  • I.K. Schneider (Contributor)

Dataset

Description

These four datasets formed the basis of the article: Koole, S. L., Tjew A Sin, M., & Schneider, I. K.. (2014). Embodied terror management: Interpersonal touch alleviates existential concerns among individuals with low self-esteem. Psychological Science, 25(1), 30-37. Abstract: Individuals with low (rather than high) self-esteem often struggle with existential concerns. The present research examined whether these existential concerns may be alleviated by seemingly trivial experiences of (simulated) interpersonal touch. A brief touch on the shoulder by a female experimenter led individuals with low self-esteem to experience less death anxiety (Study 1) and more social connectedness after a death reminder (Study 2). Reminding individuals with low self-esteem of death increased their desire for touch, as indicated by higher value estimates of a teddy bear, a toy animal that simulates interpersonal touch (Study 3). Finally, holding a teddy bear (versus a cardboard box) led individuals with low self-esteem to respond to a death reminder with less defensive ethnocentrism (Study 4). Individuals with high self-esteem were unaffected by touch (Studies 1-4). These findings highlight the existential significance of embodied touch experiences, particularly for individuals with low self-esteem. These data are referenced by: Tjew-A-Sin, M, Schneider, I.K. and Koole, S.L. 2015. Data from Paper ‘Embodied Terror Management: Interpersonal Touch Alleviates Existential Concerns among Individuals with Low Self-esteem’. Journal of Open Psychology Data 3(1):e2, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/jopd.ah
Date made available1 Jan 2014
PublisherUnknown Publisher

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