A key prediction of Terror Management Theory is that people affirm their cultural worldview after they are reminded of death. This mortality salience (MS) hypothesis has been widely explored, yet the presence of questionable research practices may impact the replicability of this literature. We assess the evidential value of the MS hypothesis by conducting a pre-registered p-curve analysis of 860 published studies. Our results suggest that there are nonzero effects in this literature and that power is larger for studies conducted with multiple delays between the independent and dependent variables, for studies that test for main effects in comparison to those that test for interactions, and for studies conducted more recently. However, since the estimated average power of MS studies is 26%, direct replications are unlikely to succeed. We recommend researchers consider our evidence when planning their samples, and that they anticipate smaller effects by increasing their sample sizes.

We assessed the evidential value of the large literature (k=826 studies) investigating the mortality salience (MS) hypothesis from terror management theory. We employed a multitool assessment approach and reviewed past efforts to replicate experiments testing the MS hypothesis, and conducted a p-curve, a z-curve, and a random effects meta-analysis including bias corrections of the selection model, PET-PEESE, and WAAP-WLS on the studies. Overall, the different meta-analytic tools pointed to conflicting conclusions, reflecting differences in the methodology and philosophy of these tools. Our synthesis of these findings suggests there are true effects underlying some studies of the MS hypothesis, although the effects are highly heterogeneous, and the majority of studies are underpowered. We recommend future replications to assume a smaller effect size (r = .10 ~ .15) and to follow expert guidance in the experimental protocol. Given the conflicting findings that emerged, we suggest that future attempts to evaluate other literatures would benefit from a multitool assessment approach.