Why bother? Death, failure, and fatalistic withdrawal from life.

Abstract

The current research examines the conditions under which death contemplation will reduce, rather than increase, goal directed activity. By employing a goal-regulation perspective on the problem of death, we hypothesized that death awareness precipitates withdrawal from the goal for continued life when life is experienced as dissatisfying and hope for the future appears bleak. In Study 1, participants with low life satisfaction who contemplated goal failure responded to mortality salience with reduced desire for continued life. Studies 2-4 examined general goal motivation. Consistent with the idea that withdrawal from life precipitates a general state of reduced goal motivation, parallel effects were observed on the willingness to delay gratification for future outcomes (Study 2), orientation toward the future (Study 3), and behavioral activation system (BAS) sensitivity (Study 4). Moreover, Study 3 showed that these effects were mediated by a generally pessimistic attitude toward life. Finally, Study 5 assessed felt uncertainty and state depression, revealing that withdrawal from life was associated with reduced uncertainty but increased depression. Discussion is focused on implications for theories of threat and defense, and applications for understanding depression and suicide.

Cognitive Theories of Depression in Online Peer Support Forums: Exploring the Cognitive Triad

“…Hayes, Ward, and McGregor (2016) note that participants with less life satisfaction have a decreased desire for life in a test situation where their perceptions of death and the dying process were measured. Whilst belief in good luck and optimism has been shown to share a significant negative relationship with depression (Day & Maltby, 2003), fatalistic talk is linked to stress relief and uncertainty management, emphasising the complexity of the relationship between thinking style, beliefs and health outcomes (Keeley, Wright, & Condit, 2009).…”

Motivation for aggressive religious radicalization: goal regulation theory and a personality × threat × affordance hypothesis

“…Anxiety is a function of the BIS response to simultaneous approach and avoidance cues. It can accordingly be relieved by either singular approach or singular avoidance ( Hayes et al, 2015 ). Withdrawal from concern with life outcomes would make hostile and antisocial levers for RAM easier to engage without regard for possible consequences.…”

“…This uncertain discovery process is more likely to feel threatening for people with high BIS reactivity whose anxiety circuits are most easily overloaded by uncertainty ( Hirsh and Inzlicht, 2008 ). For them, defenses that allow escape from anxious conflicts by either unmitigated approach or avoidance motivation would be appealing (cf; Marcia, 1980 ; Jonas et al, 2014 ; Hayes et al, 2015 ).…”

“…Self-doubt also predicts materialistic reactions to uncertainty ( Chang and Arkin, 2002 ). Moreover, when simultaneously confronted with multiple vulnerabilities and threats (life-dissatisfaction, goal frustration, mortality salience) identity-weak people become fatalistically withdrawn from personal goals, report being depressed, and report that they wish to live shorter lives ( Hayes et al, 2015 ). In contrast, identity-strong people (i.e., high self-esteem, high scores on trait idealism) cope with anxious distress relatively easily by focusing on personal ideals about self-worth or value conviction that activate approach motivated states and thereby relieve the anxiety ( Dodgson and Wood, 1998 ; McGregor and Marigold, 2003 ; McGregor, 2006a ; McGregor et al, 2007 , 2009a ; Schmeichel et al, 2009 ; Nash et al, 2010 ; Schumann et al, 2014 ; see also McGregor et al, 2010a for evidence that experimentally priming ideals can also activate this process).…”

“…Our main premise is that ARR is rewarding because it spurs approach motivated states that mute anxiety for people whose personalities and social circumstances would otherwise leave them anxious and depressed ( McGregor et al, 2010b ; Jonas et al, 2014 ; Hayes et al, 2015 ). We begin by reviewing classic theories foundational to understanding ARR.…”