NDLI: Praising the dead: On the motivational tendency and psychological function of eulogizing the deceased

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Hayes, Joseph
Copyright Year	2016
Abstract	This research presents evidence for a pervasive motivational tendency to praise and idealize the deceased, which functions to mitigate death-related distress. In Study 1, participants were asked to recall a close (vs. distant) other and to imagine that this target person has recently died (vs. not). The subsequent descriptions and evaluations of the target were significantly more positive and less negative after imagining that the target had died. These effects were observed regardless of whether the target was a close or distant other. Study 2 replicated this finding, and provided additional evidence for the pervasiveness of these effects by showing that participants evince the same motivational tendency regardless of whether the target is liked or disliked. Study 3 provided evidence for the psychological function of this tendency by examining death-thought accessibility (DTA) following the manipulations. Results showed that praising a close other (but not a disliked other) after imagining that they have died reduced DTA. Discussion is focused on the psychological functions of eulogies, and applications for understanding the bereavement process.
Starting Page	375
Ending Page	388
Page Count	14
File Format	PDF
ISSN	01467239
Journal	Motivation and Emotion
Volume Number	40
Issue Number	3
e-ISSN	15736644
Language	English
Publisher	Springer US
Publisher Date	2016-02-25
Publisher Place	New York
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Death Idealization Eulogy Bereavement Terror management theory Psychology Personality and Social Psychology Clinical Psychology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Social Psychology

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1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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