Abstract :
This research investigated the influence of
reminders of mortality on biased attention for fear-relevant
animals across 2 studies. In each study, participants completed
a baseline dot-probe test of attention to fear-relevant
animals (snakes and spiders). After random assignment,
participants completed a mortality salience or control
writing task (about watching television in Study 1 and about
writing an important exam in Study 2). Finally, participants
completed the dot-probe measure a second time. In both
studies, those in the mortality salience condition showed a
significant reduction in bias for fear-relevant animals from
baseline to post-manipulation, whereas no change was
found for those in the control conditions. These data suggest
that the previously demonstrated lack of emotional response
to mortality salience may, in part, result from the avoidance
of fear-relevant stimuli.
