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Full-Text Articles in Social Psychology
Unconscious Vigilance: Worldview Defense Without Adaptations For Terror, Coalition Or Uncertainty Management, Colin Holbrook, Paulo Sousa, Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook
Unconscious Vigilance: Worldview Defense Without Adaptations For Terror, Coalition Or Uncertainty Management, Colin Holbrook, Paulo Sousa, Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook
Psychology Faculty Articles and Research
Individuals subtly reminded of death, coalitional challenges, or feelings of uncertainty display exaggerated preferences for affirmations and against criticisms of their cultural in-groups. Terror management, coalitional psychology, and uncertainty management theories postulate this “worldview defense” effect as the output of mechanisms evolved either to allay the fear of death, foster social support, or reduce anxiety by increasing adherence to cultural values. In 4 studies, we report evidence for an alternative perspective. We argue that worldview defense owes to unconscious vigilance, a state of accentuated reactivity to affective targets (which need not relate to cultural worldviews) that follows detection of subtle …