The present research investigated the need to distinguish humans from animals and tested the hypothesis derived from terror management theory that this need stems in part from existential mortality concerns. Specifically, the authors suggest that being an animal is threatening because it reminds people of their vulnerability to death; therefore, reminding people of their mortality was hypothesized to increase the need to distance from animals. In support, Study 1 revealed that reminders of death led to an increased emotional reaction of disgust to body products and animals. Study 2 showed that compared to a control condition, mortality salience led to greater preference for an essay describing people as distinct from animals; and within the mortality salient condition but not the control condition, the essay emphasizing differences from other animals was preferred to the essay emphasizing similarities. The implications of these results for understanding why humans are so invested in beautifying their bodies and denying creaturely aspects of themselves are discussed.

Two experiments explored age differences in response to reminders of death. Terror management research has shown that death reminders lead to increased adherence to and defense of one's cultural worldview. In Study 1, the effect of mortality salience (MS) on evaluations of moral transgressions made by younger and older adults was compared. Whereas younger adults showed the typical pattern of harsher judgments in response to MS, older adults did not. Study 2 compared younger and older adults' responses to both the typical MS induction and a more subtle death reminder. Whereas younger adults responded to both MS inductions with harsher evaluations, older adults made significantly less harsh evaluations after the subtle MS induction. Explanations for this developmental shift in responses to reminders of death are discussed. Keywordsterror management; fear of death; moral judgments and aging; healthy aging Aging entails more than just the emergence of new wrinkles, impaired memory, or increased joint pain; it also entails knowing that one is moving inexorably closer to death. For older adults, frequent medical problems, loss of loved ones, and deteriorating cognitive abilities are just a few reminders that the end of life is drawing nearer. Terror management theory (TMT; Correspondence NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptGreenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986) asserts that awareness of the inevitability of death has a potent impact on human judgment and behavior. Empirical support for TMT has been obtained in a large body of research (for a review, see showing that reminders of mortality increase young adults' self-esteem striving and defense of their cherished beliefs and values (i.e., their cultural worldviews). Although people of varying ages have been included in these studies, none of this research has explicitly examined these processes in older adults. Given older adults' more frequent encounters with mortality; the changes in cognitive, social, and emotional functioning that occur in later life; and the adaptations they often make in response to these changing life circumstances (e.g., P. B. Baltes & Baltes, 1990; Brandtstadter & Greve, 1994;Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995), it seems likely that this population would differ in their responses to mortality. Research is needed to assess possible age-related differences in the use and adaptation of terror management processes to cope with reminders of mortality. The research reported here explored this issue by testing hypotheses derived from an integration of TMT with ideas from a variety of developmental theories. Following Becker (1973), TMT posits that the uniquely human knowledge of the inevitability of death in an organism that is biologically oriented toward staying alive creates the potential for paralyzing terror. People are protected from the anxiety that awareness of death would otherwise produce by maintaining faith in their cultural worldviews and attaining self-esteem by living up to the standards of that w...

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