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Terror management theory (TMT) posits that people cope with mortality concerns via symbolic immortality (e.g., secular cultural beliefs that outlast death) and/or literal immortality (afterlife belief). However, what happens when these two forms of immortality conflict, as in atheism? Would atheists' mortality concerns be better assuaged by affirming an afterlife, or by affirming their literal immortality-denying worldview? Drawing on an untested TMT hypothesis, we predicted that atheists would be buffered from mortality concerns if their atheistic worldview - no life after death - was challenged, but not if it was supported. Results confirmed the hypothesis and were also found for theists and agnostics. These findings support TMT's claim that literal immortality is of paramount importance in ameliorating death concerns.

Integrating terror management theory and objective self-awareness theory, we propose the existential escape hypothesis, which states that people with low self-esteem should be especially prone to escaping self-awareness as a distal response to thoughts of death. This is because they lack the means to bolster the self as a defense, and the propensity to bolster the self reduces the motivation to escape from self-awareness. Five studies supported this hypothesis. Individuals low, but not high, in self-esteem scored lower on a measure of private self-awareness (Study 1), showed less implicit self-activation (Studies 2 & 3), were more likely to choose to write about others than themselves (Study 4), and consumed more alcohol in a field study at a nightclub (Study 5) in response to mortality reminders. Implications for terror management theory (highlighting an additional route to defend against mortality awareness), self-regulation, physical health and well-being are discussed.

Self-identified sad music (SISM) is often listened to when experiencing sad life situations. Research indicates that the most common reason people give for listening to SISM is "to be in touch with or express feelings of sadness". But why might this be the case? We suggest that one reason people choose to listen to sad music when feeling sad is to accept aversive situations. We tested if SISM is associated with acceptance coping and consolation. We hypothesized that SISM relates to acceptance-based coping via the recognition and identification of emotional states, and that people will report more acceptance from SISM than selfidentified happy music when seeking consolation. In Study 1, participants recalled how happy or sad the music sounds that they normally listen to for consolation, and if they listen to this music to gain acceptance of negative moods and situations. In Study 2, participants reported their goals when listening to sad music during a recalled time in which they experienced an adverse life situation and whether this lead to acceptance. Study 1: People reported that they were more likely to listen to sad music than happy music when seeking consolation, though they preferred happy music in general. Listening to SISM (but not self-identified happy music) when seeking consolation was associated with acceptance of both a negative situation and the associated negative emotions. Additionally, seeking to deal with emotions was associated with both SISM listening (for consolation) and acceptance. Study 2: Listening to SISM to get in touch with and express affect was the most important self-regulatory strategy (of six examined) through which acceptance was recalled to be achieved. Experiencing adverse situations or seeking consolation, people report that listening to SISM is associated with acceptance coping (through the re-experiencing of affect). Implications for music therapy and theories of emotional coping are discussed.