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Group Processes & Intergroup Relations
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Death in Groups: Mortality Salience and the Interindividual-Intergroup Discontinuity Effect

Sterling McPherson

Washington State University, smcpherson05{at}wsu.edu

Jeff Joireman

Washington State University

Past research has shown that mortality salience (MS) increases aggression toward a worldview-threatening other. The present study evaluated whether MS would have a larger impact on aggression under group as opposed to individual interactions, and whether the tendency for groups to be more aggressive than individuals (i.e. interindividual-intergroup discontinuity effect) would be magnified under conditions of MS. Participants assigned to an individual or a three-person group condition wrote down thoughts about dental pain or mortality. Later, participants read a worldview-threatening essay from another individual or group at a rival university and subsequently allocated hot sauce for the others to consume. Results supported the primary hypotheses: those writing about death were more aggressive than those writing about dental pain; groups were more aggressive than individuals; those in the MS condition tended to show more aggression; and the discontinuity effect was more visible among those in the MS condition. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Key Words: intergroup aggression • interindividual-intergroup discontinuity effect • mortality salience • terror management theory

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, Vol. 12, No. 4, 419-429 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1368430209105044
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