The political effects of existential fear
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 - 15:31
in Psychology & Sociology
Why did the approval ratings of President George W. Bush who was perceived as indecisive before September 11, 2001soar over 90 percent after the terrorist attacks? Because Americans were acutely aware of their own deaths. That is one lesson from the psychological literature on "mortality salience" reviewed in a new article called "The Politics of Mortal Terror." The paper, by psychologists Florette Cohen of the City University of New York's College of Staten Island and Sheldon Solomon of Skidmore College, appears in October's Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science.