Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Death and motivation

Death and motivation:
How does awareness of mortality influence motivation?

Multimedia presentation (3 min)

Replace the link in the box above once the multimedia presentation has been published**

Overview

The awareness of death inherently shapes how we go about life. it motivates humans in various ways.

Focus questions: Break the problem (i.e., the sub-title) down into three to five focus questions. Focus questions can also be used as top-level headings. What is the first focus question? What is the second focus question? What is the third focus question? Ask open-ended focus questions. For example: Is there a relationship between motivation and success? (closed-ended) What is the relationship between motivation and success? (open-ended)

What is Death? Literally and philosophically?

Figure 1. Death as represented by skeletal entities

• Death; as literally defined, is the end of life, the total and irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. (Dictionary.com 2021)
• Alternatively, Death, a powerful human concern motivates much of the creative expression as philosophy attempts to determine what it is to be alive, in order to determine what death means. (The philosophy of Death, Steven Luper 2009)
• With that being said, how exactly does the knowledge of death influence human motivation.

What does the Awareness of Mortality Mean?

First, we determine what the Awareness of mortality Means...

Death Anxiety: Can the Awareness of Mortality Become a Phobia?

• Death Anxiety is closely related to the fear of the annihilations of one's existence (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, Solomon, Simon, & Breus, 1994)
• “Death anxiety” is a term used to conceptualize the apprehension generated by death awareness (Abdel-Khalek, 2005).

The Lehto and Stein (2009) Concept of death; not typically part of the conscious experience, rather, it influences self-regualtion processes such as self control and capacity to defend against the fear of death.

The role of Death in Human Motivation

Terror Management

• the ability to cope with adverse situations and manage potential error solely depends on the awareness of human vulnerability and mortality. An awareness of the threat to human predisposition allows one to avert danger. This theory however, can be the root of both positive and negative motivators. (Greenburg, Vail, & Pyszczynski., 2014)

Attachment

• different attachment styles effect the awareness and fear of death.
  • example case study - students with different attachment styles effected the overt fear of personal death and low-level awareness. Mikulincer, Florian, & Tolmacz. (1990).

The Role of Death in Human Motivation: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Constructions of Death and Motivation in Religion

• Humans are unique in that they must learn to live and adapt to the consciousness of their own demise (Becker, 1973).
• A major task for cultural systems is to provide a symbolic structure.
• afterlife and salvation motives
• the concept of life after death strikes moral motivation in various religious denominations. (Omomia, 2022).

Constructions of Death and Motivation in Age

• in depth study of the motivations, goals and impact of the awareness of death and dying found that young adults were motivated to achieve cognitive comfort. heightened awareness of mortality in young adults increased comfort with death related topics, reduced fears around death and enriched their past experiences. (Buckle, 2013)
• Older people reveal a readiness to talk about death and dying rooted in anxiety about death. it becomes a more imminent reality rather than a distant thought. (Bozo, Tunca & Simsek., 2009)

Key points

• Death is surrounded by fear and anxiety, this motivates positive and negative traits.
• the anxiety around death stems from various external factors such as terror management, attachment, religion, age, upbringing and much more.
• the awareness of death defines how you perceive life. whether it is a motivator for a reward after following death, or a motivator to do all necessary to avoid death.

Learning Factors

Links

• When key words are introduced, use interwiki links to:
  • Death Anxiety

Tables

Quizzes

1 Death is a taboo subject and should be shunned:

	True
	False

2 Long Death awareness can only have detrimental effects:

	True
	False

Conclusion

• The awareness of death and mortality has significant influences human motivation.

Suggestions for this section: What is the answer to the sub-title question based on psychological theory and research? What are the answers to the focus questions? What are the practical, take-home messages? (Even for the topic development, have a go at the likely take-home message)

See also

Provide internal (wiki) links to the most relevant Wikiversity pages (esp. related motivation and emotion book chapters) and Wikipedia articles. Use these formats:

• The Role of Death in Life.

Suggestions for this section: Present in alphabetical order Use sentence casing Include the source in parentheses

References

List cited references in APA style (7th ed.) or wiki style.

Buckle, J. L. (2013). University Students’ Perspectives on a Psychology of Death and Dying Course: Exploring Motivation to Enroll, Goals, and Impact. Death Studies, 37(9), 866–882. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2012.699911

Bozo, Ö., Tunca, A., & Šimšek, Y. (2009). The Effect of Death Anxiety and Age on Health-Promoting Behaviors: A Terror-Management Theory Perspective. The Journal of Psychology, 143(4), 377–389. https://doi.org/10.3200/JRLP.143.4.377-389

Powell, F. C., & Thorson, J. A. (1991). Constructions of death among those high in intrinsic religious motivation: A factor-analytic study. Death Studies, 15(2), 131–138. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481189108252418

Suggestions for this section: Important aspects of APA style for references include: Wrap the set of references in the hanging indent template. Use "Edit source": {{Hanging indent|1= the full list of references}} Author surname, followed by a comma, then the author initials separated by full stops and spaces Year of publication in parentheses Title of work in lower case except first letter and proper names, ending in a full-stop Journal title in italics, volume number in italics, issue number in parentheses, first and last page numbers separated by an en-dash(–), followed by a full-stop Provide the full doi as a URL and working hyperlink The most common mistakes include: Incorrect capitalisation Incorrect italicisation Citing sources that weren't read or consulted

External links

Provide external links to highly relevant resources such as presentations, news articles, and professional sites. Use sentence casing. For example:

• Six top tips for writing a great essay (University of Melbourne)
• The importance of structure (skillsyouneed.com)

Suggestions for this section: Only select links to major external resources about the topic Present in alphabetical order Include the source in parentheses after the link