TITLE:
Facing Our “Inevitable End”: The Effects of Death Thoughts on Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors
AUTHORS:
Zachary Z. Smith, Sheila Brownlow
KEYWORDS:
Mortality Salience, Ecocentrism, Environmental Attitudes
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.16 No.9,
September
10,
2025
ABSTRACT: While some believe protecting the environment is a necessity to avoid the end of the world, others avoid the issue entirely due to the fear that arises from considering this issue. Our study examined the effects of death thoughts on peoples’ environmental attitudes and behaviors, accounting for their guiding values of life. College students (N = 120) reported their guiding values in life, then wrote about their own death (mortality salience manipulation) or about dental pain. Participants completed two filler tasks and then reported their environmental behavior, attitudes, and self-identity; they also answered demographic questions. Mortality salience positively affected peoples’ ecocentric attitudes regardless of baseline guiding values and other demographic differences. However, mortality salience did not influence perceived environmental behaviors, environmental self-identity, or anthropocentric and apathetic attitudes toward the environment. Women reported engaging in more environmentally-friendly behaviors than men. These results suggest that while provoking death thoughts can positively affect the pro-environmentalism of some persons, understanding of the situations under which this might occur requires further study.