Death Reflection

https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/20509/Yuan_2019_memento.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Research on death awareness has predominantly focused on the anxiety-provoking aspect of death-related cognitions, thus overlooking the positive aspect of death awareness, death reflection. This gap is exacerbated by the lack of a valid research instrument to measure death reflection. To address this issue, we offer a systematic conceptualization of death reflection, develop the Death Reflection Scale and assess its psychometric properties across four studies.

Further, using a sample of 268 firefighters, we examine whether death reflection buffers the detrimental impact of mortality cues at work on employee well-being and safety performance. Results provide strong support for the psychometric properties of the Death Reflection Scale. Further, moderation analysis indicates death reflection weakens the negative effect of mortality cues on firefighters’ safety performance.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065260115000052

- related

Terror Management Theory

Terror Management Theory suggests that large groups, and even entire societies, may make decisions, or put them off, primarily to gain comfort from avoiding thoughts of death or reassurance that their ideas will live on after they are gone. Research finds that this plays out in some unexpected ways, both beneficial and potentially hazardous.

Terror management theory posits that human awareness of the inevitability of death exerts a profound influence on diverse aspects of human thought, emotion, motivation, and behavior