Ernest Becker and the Psychology of Worldviews

Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, and Tom Pyszczynski offer experimental confirmation for Ernest Becker's claim that the fear of death is a powerful unconscious motive producing polarized worldviews and scapegoating. Their suggestion that their findings also prove Sigmund Freud's theory of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zygon
Main Author: Webb, Eugene (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 1998
In: Zygon
Year: 1998, Volume: 33, Issue: 1, Pages: 71-86
Further subjects:B Positivism
B Terror-Management Theory
B Ernest Becker
B Developmental Psychology
B Imitation
B Freudianism
B Worldview
B sociology of knowledge
B Repression
B Scapegoating
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Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, and Tom Pyszczynski offer experimental confirmation for Ernest Becker's claim that the fear of death is a powerful unconscious motive producing polarized worldviews and scapegoating. Their suggestion that their findings also prove Sigmund Freud's theory of repression, with worldviews as its irrational products, is questionable, although Becker's own statements about worldviews as “illusions” seem to invite such interpretation. Their basic theory does not depend on this, however, and abandoning it would enable them to take better advantage of their finding that worldviews incorporating the values of rationality and tolerance tend to counteract polarization effects.
ISSN:1467-9744
Contains:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/0591-2385.1271998127