329 research outputs found
First person - Alice Dupont Juhl
No full textFirst Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Alice Dupont Juhl is co-first author on ‘ Transient accumulation and bidirectional movement of KIF13B in primary cilia’, published in JCS. Alice is a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Daniel Wüstner at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, focusing on molecular cell imaging
The effects of trait self-esteem and death cognitions on worldview defense and search for meaning
No full textThe creative spark of death: the effects of mortality salience and personal need for structure on creativity
No full textPrevious research indicates that the awareness of death can be a barrier to creative expression. Specifically, when mortality is rendered salient, creativity is inhibited. However, no studies have considered how individual differences may impact the effect of mortality salience on creativity. Past research has found that mortality salience increases explorative thought processes for individuals low in personal need for structure. Thus, for these people, mortality salience may increase, not decrease, creativity. The current study examined this possibility. Personal need for structure was measured, mortality salience was experimentally manipulated, and creativity was assessed. As predicted, mortality salience increased creativity amongst individuals low in personal need for structure. No effect of mortality salience was observed amongst individuals high in personal need for structure
Nostalgia: an impactful social emotion
No full textNostalgia (a sentimental longing for one's past) is a highly social emotion. We provide an evidence-based argument that nostalgia's sociality is one of its most defining and impactful characteristics. First, we review evidence that has established the highly social content of nostalgic reflection. Second, we summarize research that has demonstrated nostalgia's capacity to provide a sense of connectedness with others, and that this social connectedness, in turn, conveys intrapersonal psychological benefits (i.e., meaning in life, self-continuity, optimism, inspiration). Third, we outline research that has documented the interpersonal consequences of nostalgia (e.g., greater physical closeness, strengthened relational goals, increased help seeking, intensified empathy, elevated prosocial behavior). Finally, we call for applied research to investigate how the social character of nostalgia can be harnessed to improve people's social lives
Putting the terror in terror management theory: evidence that the awareness of death does cause anxiety and undermine psychological well-being
No full textRooted in the writings of existentialists, terror management theory states that the awareness of death has the potential to create debilitating anxiety and compromise psychological well-being and that psychological buffers (e.g., self-worth) protect against these aversive effects. Hundreds of studies have supported the theory. However, until recently, little work has focused on the central assertion that the awareness of death causes anxiety and undermines well-being. We review a recent program of research that fills this critical void in the literature. This work has demonstrated that experimentally heightening the awareness of death increases anxiety and decreases well-being for individuals who lack appropriate psychological buffers.<br/
When death thoughts lead to death fears: mortality salience increases death anxiety for individuals who lack meaning in life
No full textResearch derived from terror management theory demonstrates that subtle reminders of mortality increase strivings for meaning. It is argued that such strivings reflect efforts to prevent the anxiety that death reminders may otherwise cause. However, no research has directly tested the assertions that subtle mortality primes increase death anxiety and perceptions of meaning in life moderate this effect. The current study examined these predictions. Meaning in life was measured, death cognition primed, and death anxiety assessed. A mortality prime increased death anxiety, but only for individuals who lack perceptions of meaning in life. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed
The awareness of death reduces subjective vitality and self-regulatory energy for individuals with low interdependent self-construal
No full textExistentialists have proposed that defining the self in terms of social groups—interdependent self-construal—helps maintain adaptive psychological functioning in the face of death awareness. Supporting this idea, research has demonstrated that when the awareness of death is experimentally heightened, individuals display greater investment in their social groups. No research, however, has directly tested the fundamental assertion that the awareness of death aversely effects psychological functioning for those without an interdependent self-construal. To provide an initial test of this claim, we examined the extent to which the awareness of death compromises the subjective sense of energy and aliveness (i.e., vitality) and self-regulatory energy at varying levels of interdependent self-construal. Specifically, in two experiments, we measured interdependent self-construal, experimentally heightened the awareness of death, and subsequently measured subjective vitality (Study 1) and self-regulation (Study 2). Results demonstrated that heightened death awareness reduced subjective vitality and self-regulation, but only for individuals with low, not high, levels of interdependent self-construal
Death thoughts predict increased depression for those with low self-worth
Get PDFTerror management theory specifies that a sense of self-worth is necessary to prevent the awareness of death from undermining psychological well-being. We tested the theory’s claims about well-being within the context of depression, by measuring self-worth, death-thought accessibility, and depression in an online study (N = 365). Consistent with the theory, death-thought accessibility predicted increased depression, but only among those with low, not high, self-worth. Our findings support existential clinical theorists’ claims for psychological therapies to appreciate the underlying reasons for the need for self-worth
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