Abstract
Based on Terror Management Theory (TMT), we suggest that spirituality and prosocial attitudes toward money have a similar defensive function in resisting existential anxiety. In mortality salient (MS) situations, both spirituality and prosocial money attitudes afford symbolic immortality by self-transcendent connections. In four studies, we found that activating death awareness weakened people’s subjective love of money (Study 1) and predicted increased spending willingness on prosocial rather than proself goals (Studies 2, 3, and 4). More importantly, MS effects on money attitudes were smaller when people’s trait spirituality was high (vs. low; Studies 1, 2, 3) and when people were primed to experience spirituality (vs. happiness control condition; Study 4). For low spirituality people, the association between MS and prosocial spending also depended on the capacity of money spending to contribute positively to one’s feelings of self-worth (Study 3). Theoretical implications and future directions are discussed.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1-17 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion |
Volume | 29 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 20 Nov 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2 Jan 2019 |
Funding
This research was supported by the Major Project of National Social Science Foundation of China (13&ZD073), the Project of National Social Science Foundation of China (16BSH098), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31700979).
Funders | Funder number |
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National Social Science Foundation of China | |
National Natural Science Foundation of China | 31700979 |
National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences | 16BSH098, 13&ZD073 |