A terror management theory perspective on the appeal of historical myths

Abstract

Historical myths are appealing primarily because they provide people with views of life and their role in it as significant and enduring. These worldviews help people manage death anxiety by enabling them to view themselves as part of something great that stretches far into the past and endures indefinitely into the future. We review empirical evidence supporting this analysis.

Sijilmassi et al. propose that people are attracted to historical myths because narratives depicting a long history of shared experience signify present-day fitness interdependence. Though it is plausible that historical myths promote feelings of fitness interdependence, group cohesiveness, and coalitional success, we find it unlikely that this causes people to be attracted to them. Though the authors review evidence that people are prone to perceive continuity over time and defining foundational characteristics in their groups, this simply establishes that these phenomena exist and tells us little about their psychological origin or function. The authors provide no evidence that these narratives cause people to perceive current or future fitness interdependence – or that historical narratives are even associated with such perceptions. Nor is evidence provided that perceived fitness interdependence affects the appeal of historical narratives. Politicians and others may indeed appeal to historical myths to promote commitment to groups, claims to lands and resources, and policies to counter perceived threats. However, as the authors themselves note, there are more direct and impactful ways to promote perceptions of the interdependent nature of one's group than referring to events in the ancient past. A compelling explanation of the appeal and function of historical myths requires an analysis of the individual-level psychological needs they serve for both those who adopt them and those who promote them.

Although Sijilmassi et al. acknowledge that social psychologists have proposed that individuals embrace historical myths in pursuit of meaning and self-continuity in order to “compensate for their own finitude,” they dismiss this explanation for the appeal of historical myths on the grounds that “it remains unclear why exactly humans have such psychological needs in the first place.” Terror management theory (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986; Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 1991) posits that human awareness of the inevitability of death gives rise to the potential for anxiety because it runs counter to diverse biological and psychological systems that facilitate individual survival. This anxiety must be managed because it is both highly aversive and likely to undermine goal-directed behavior necessary for survival, reproduction, and prospering. People manage death-related anxiety by maintaining faith in a cultural worldview that gives meaning, structure, significance, and permanence to their lives and attaining self-esteem by living up to standards specified by their worldviews.

Historical myths and narratives are appealing because they help people manage death anxiety by imbuing themselves, their groups, and life in general with meaning and value that transcends one's individual lifespan. They do so by enabling people to view themselves as valuable contributors to something great that stretches far into the past and that will endure indefinitely into the future. Historical myths are important elements of cultural worldviews that promote psychological equanimity by connecting people to the eternal and construing one's group as valuable and virtuous (see Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 2015 for a presentation of archeological, anthropological, and historical evidence supporting this analysis). Negative aspects of one's group's history are ineffective for managing existential terror, and thus tend to be downplayed, spun in a positive light, or outright denied. When negative aspects of group history are acknowledged, they tend to be viewed as part of a redemptive narrative in which the group is progressing toward a better current or future state.

A large body of research provides converging evidence for the theory's central propositions by showing that: (1) Reminders of death (mortality salience) increase commitment to and defense of one's cultural worldview and self-esteem, (2) threats to these psychological entities increase the accessibility of death-related thoughts and boosts to them decrease the accessibility of such thoughts, (3) bolstering self-esteem and worldviews reduce anxiety and anxiety-related behavior. Research has documented the role of terror management process in commitment to groups important to one's identity. For example, mortality salience increases attraction to one's group, nationalistic rhetoric, charismatic leaders, and symbols of one's culture. Criticisms of one's group and its worldview increase the accessibility of death-related thoughts. For a general review of terror management research, see Pyszczynski, Solomon, and Greenberg (2015).

There is also considerable evidence specifically supporting our analysis of the role of historical narratives in terror management. Reminders of death increase the appeal of enduring entities, especially those related to one's group. Especially relevant here, Sani, Herrera, and Bowe (2009) found that death reminders increase the perceived continuity of one's group's history and cultural beliefs, and that this mediates the effect of mortality salience on identification with one's group. Castano, Yzerbyt, Paladino, and Sacchi (2002) found mortality salience to increase perceptions of the entitativity of one's group – the sense that one's group has enduring defining features. Research has shown that death reminders increase nostalgic memories of the past and that nostalgia-proneness reduces the effect of mortality salience on death anxiety and defensive responses to mortality salience (e.g., Juhl, Routledge, Arndt, Sedikides, & Wildschut, 2010). Landau, Greenberg, and Sullivan (2009) found mortality salience leads people to view past life events as more significant and to lead those high in personal need for structure to parse their future into clearly defined temporal intervals, while McCabe, Spina, and Arndt (2016) found mortality salience increases the appeal of old but not new objects. Other research has shown that death reminders increase the desire to believe that one's culture is progressing in a positive direction and that bolstering belief in progress buffers the effect of mortality salience on the accessibility of death-related thoughts and negative reactions to criticisms of one's culture (Rutjens, van der Pligt, & van Harreveld, 2009). These studies establish a clear causal connection between death concerns and various indicators of valuing past events involving both oneself and one's group.

This body of research supports the idea that people are attracted to historical myths because of the protection from existential anxiety they provide. People are motivated to spread these myths because broad acceptance within and beyond their group consensually validates belief in them. This, in turn, likely promotes future group solidarity, which further increases the psychological security cultural groups provide and promotes their continued success. Explaining complex social phenomena requires integration of individual- and group-level analyses.