Reineberg, Andrew E
(2009)
The Impact of Mortality Salience on Mind Wandering During Reading: A Cognitive Test of Terror Management Theory.
Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
The effects of mind wandering on normal reading have been explored recently in studies using self-paced reading (Schooler, Reichle, & Halpern, 2004) and eye tracking (Reichle, Reineberg, & Schooler, 2009). These studies demonstrate our propensity to lapse into episodes of mindless reading, but shed little light on its causality. Furthermore, behavioral studies suggest that reminders of death (mortality salience) evoke an evolutionary defense mechanism capable of embracing distractions to eliminate thoughts of death (Pysczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 1999). Thirty participants were primed with either reminders of their own death or reminders of a painful experience. Participants then read a neutral passage while self-reporting episodes of mind wandering and while responding to probes inquiring the status of their level of awareness. It was predicted that participants primed to be mortality salient would be caught by probes and mind wander less frequently due to increased engagement in the text in order to distract themselves from notions of their mortal vulnerability. The results partially confirm these predictions: All participants engaged in mind wandering to a comparable extent. Mortality salience-primed individuals self-reported far fewer instances of mind wandering than individuals who received a control (pain) prime, suggesting that reminders of death affect the ability to realize that mind wandering is happening.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
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| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
22 May 2009 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Defense Date: |
10 April 2009 |
| Approval Date: |
22 May 2009 |
| Submission Date: |
12 May 2009 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Psychology
David C. Frederick Honors College |
| Degree: |
BPhil - Bachelor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Undergraduate Thesis |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Behavioral Sampling; Mind Wandering; Terror Management Theory; Mindless Reading; Self-paced Reading |
| Other ID: |
http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-05122009-130733/, etd-05122009-130733 |
| Date Deposited: |
10 Nov 2011 19:44 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 13:43 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/7856 |
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