PSYCO241 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Electrodermal Activity, Mortality Salience, Big Bang

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCO241
• Professor: Jeff Schimel

Document Summary

Terror management theory (culture & self-esteem: the birth and death of meaning (1962- revised in 1971, the denial of death (1974 pulitzer prize, escape from evil (1975) --a life force we all have a drive to survive and thrive. Human beings are smart, not so much physically as we are not as strong as most animals but more mentally. We can use our brains to live and adapt to live in certain environments. Chimpanzees video clip: in the beginning the chimps cant recognize them selves in a mirror, which is the same for humans until about 1. 5 to 2 years old. Than the chimps begin to understand and recognize them selves. These cognitive abilities have some important consequences for us: freedom from reactivity , self-consciousness + Basic drive toward self-preservation + knowledge of our mortality = potential for debilitating terror and anxiety.