Thesis (with edits)

Running head: EFFECTS OF MORTALITY SALIENCE AND PERSONAL NEED FOR
STRUCTURE ON ATTITUDES TOWARD LGBT INDIVIDUALS
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Exploring the Effects of Mortality Salience and Personal Need for Structure on
Attitudes toward LGBT Individuals
Katie E. Field Christina Roylance Clay Routledge
North Dakota State University
Author Note
Katie E. Field, Christina Roylance, & Clay Routledge, Department of Psychology, North
Dakota State University.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Katie E. Field,
Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Minard Hall, 1340 Administration
Avenue, Fargo, ND 58102. E-mail: katie.ella.field@gmail.com.

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Abstract
Previous research in psychology has shown that human beings react to increased death thought
awareness by bolstering certain worldview beliefs in order to alleviate anxiety. However, recent
research also suggests that individual reactions to mortality salience differ depending on
personality characteristics. For example, those with a higher need for personal structure respond
to death thought awareness by seeking a highly polarized view of the world. While past research
has already shown this effect, research has not yet shown whether this effect is also seen in
regard to attitudes toward the LGBT community. The current study sought to examine the
potential for this effect to occur. In line with past research, personal need for structure was
measured and mortality salience was induced. Attitudes toward the LGBT community were then
assessed. Individuals high in personal need for structure responded to mortality salience with
more negative attitudes toward the LGBT community.
Keywords: TMT, PNS, LGBT community, mortality salience, attitudes, worldview defense

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Exploring the Effects of Mortality Salience and Personal Need for Structure on
Attitudes Toward LGBT Individuals
The human experience is unique such that we have a multitude of thoughts, ideas, hopes,
experiences, and aspirations that compete for attention at the forefront of our minds. Within this
complex network, theory states that our cognitive capacity presents an existential problem such
that human awareness of our inevitable mortality causes anxiety. This anxiety is managed by
ascribing to various cultural worldviews, and threatening these worldviews oftentimes results in
negative evaluations toward the non-ascribing out-group. However, past research has shown that
individual differences in cognitive structure do have an effect on the above described worldview
defense. Therefore, the present study sough to explore whether the intersection of mortality
salience and personal need for structure would have any significant effects on attitudes toward
LGBT individuals on North Dakota State University’s campus.
Terror Management Theory
For example, humans have the ability to be cognitively aware of their own inevitable mortality
(Becker, 1973). This awareness drives humans to survive life-threatening circumstances, yet it
has the potential to be anxiety provoking. According to Terror Management Theory (Rosenblatt,
Greenberg, Solomon, Pyszczynski, & Lyon, 1989; Greenberg et al., 1990) humans tend to create
or ascribe to enduring, meaningful belief systems that allow them to achieve symbolic
immortality. Additional research has also shown that when humans face existential threat
(mortality salience), reminders of the fragility of their existence bring about a variety of
psychological defenses meant to substantiate meaning and purpose in their lives (Solomon,
Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 1991; Pyszczynski, Solomon, & Greenberg, 2003).

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An example of the above-described phenomenon includes the bolstering of a predominant
cultural worldview, also known as worldview defense. Previous research (e.g., Greenberg et al.,
1990) found that Christian participants who were asked to write about their own death, compared
to those in the control condition, showed increased positive reactions to those with a the same
worldview (Christian individuals), and increased negative reactions to those with a different
cultural worldview (Jewish individuals). A variety of studies have found that mortality salience,
when compared to an aversive but non-death related topic like severe physical pain, leads to
increased worldview defense in a number of issues, including nationalism and political affiliation
(Greenberg & Jonas, 2003; Pyszczynski, Solomon, & Greenberg, 2003). Recent research has
even suggested that individuals may become self-sacrificial as a way of defending a cultural
worldview following mortality salience in order to ensure a meaningful symbolic self (Routledge
& Arndt, 2008).
Personal Need for Structure
Further research has sought to explore whether individual differences between subjects impact
the way we manage existential threat. While certain individuals use the traditional worldview
defense described above, it is not an effective strategy for all people. For instance, Greenberg
and colleagues (1992) found that individuals who value tolerance of views different from their
own do not respond to mortality salience with increased dogmatic worldview defense. Instead,
evidence showed that they react to mortality salience with increased openness to diversity.
Similarly, arguments have been made in regards to worldview defense as an effort to preserve an
explicit view of our cultural world (Dechesne & Kruglanski, 2004). One way to do this is by
incorporating a simple structure of information from which humans may make inferences. This
way of cognitively separating and organizing stimuli is called personal need for structure (PNS)

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and may be another way of managing individual terror (Thompson et al., 2001). However,
people may differ on the levels at which they prefer to structure the complex environment
(Neuberg & Newsom, 1993). Those who seek order, clarity, simplicity, and predictability are
typically high in personal need for structure, while others may be comfortable with a certain
level of ambiguity, uncertainty and new experiences (people low in PNS).
Previous research has been conducted to show ways in which PNS may have affect on various
social judgments and attitudes. For example, for individuals high in PNS, a study conducted by
Moskowitz (1993) showed that they were more likely to make automatic judgments about an
individual’s personality traits without any conscious thought. Additionally, research has shown
that in-group biases, or the favoring of members of one’s own social group, occurs for
individuals high in personal need for structure (Shah, Kruglanski, & Thompson, 1998).
Similarly, Smith and Gordon (1997) found that those who are high in personal need for structure
held more negative attitudes toward homosexual individuals.
Terror Management & PNS
As of late, research has been conducted indicating that need for personal structure has an effect
on the terror management process. Studies have found that worldview defense following
mortality salience may be an effort to preserve an individual’s structure of the social world
specifically for those high in personal need for structure (e.g., Landau et al., 2004; Landau,
Greenberg, Solomon, Pyszczynski, & Martens, 2006). While PNS is a way of organizing
information in order to structure the cultural world around us, and worldview defense seeks to
protect an unambiguous worldview, PNS may be considered an effective terror management

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strategy, particularly for those high in PNS (e.g., Greenberg et al. 1990; Dechesne & Kruglanski,
2004; Thompson et al., 2001).
Recent research published by Dechesne, Janssen, and van Knippenberg (2000) has shown that
individual differences within PNS, mortality salience and worldview defense has shown that for
those high in PNS, increased negative responses to an essay criticizing their university was seen
only after their mortality was primed. People in the same study who were low in PNS did not
respond negatively to the essay, but instead tried to distance themselves from the university in
question. While these findings do show individuals high in PNS engaged in increased worldview
defense when their cultural worldview was threatened, and increased distancing from said
worldview for those low in PNS, additional research was needed to replicate such findings.
Further research has sought to further explain the relationship between mortality salience, PNS,
and cultural worldview defense. Juhl & Routledge (2010) found that for individuals who scored
high in PNS, mortality salience increased worldview defense in university-related matters.
Additionally, it was found that after mortality was made salient, individuals who were high in
PNS responded with increased religious worldview defense as well. In both instances, the effect
was not seen with individuals low in PNS.
Method
Participants and Design
One hundred forty-eight introductory psychology students (90 female; Mage = 19.11) from North
Dakota State University (NDSU) participated in exchange for course credit. Participation was
completely voluntary and all participants were required to fill out consent forms prior to
participating. Participants completed all materials online through Qualtrics software.

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Materials
Personal Need for Structure. Participants first completed the PNS scale (Thompson et al.,
2001), which assesses individual differences in preference for order, certainty, and clear,
coherent knowledge. Participants were asked to indicate their level of agreement with each of 12
statements (e.g., “I become uncomfortable when the rules in a situation are not clear”) on a 6-
point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree and 6 = strongly agree). Responses for four items were
reverse scored and averaged with the remaining items (α = 0.75, M = 3.69, SD = 0.53) to yield a
composite PNS scale score. This scale has been demonstrated to be reliable and valid (Neuberg
& Newsome, 1993); (Thompson et al., 2001).
Experimental condition. The mortality salience condition (Rosenblatt, Greenberg, Solomon,
Pyszczynski, & Lyon, 1989) was comprised of two open-ended questions. Participants were
asked: “Please briefly describe the emotions that the thought of your own death arouses in you”
and “Jot down, as specifically as you can, what you think will happen to you as you physically
die and once you are physically dead.” Participants in the control condition received similar
questions, only instead asking about severe physical pain. Following the manipulation,
participants were asked to complete the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS;
Watson, Clark, & Tellegren, 1988), which in past research has served as a delay task meant to
bring the effects of mortality salience to the surface of the participant’s mind (Arndt, Cook, &
Routledge, 2004).
Attitudes toward LGBT presence on campus. Following this, participants were asked to fill out
a survey regarding their opinions on a variety of social issues. This survey was created by the
investigators, and assesses level of discomfort an individual has with LGBT presence on campus.
Additionally, participants were informed that the initialism of “LGBT” is indicative of lesbian,

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gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. Participants were asked to indicate their level of
agreement with each of the 4 statements (e.g., “It would make me uncomfortable if I found out
my professor was gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender”) on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly
disagree and 5 = strongly agree). Responses for one item were reverse scored and averaged with
the remaining items to yield a reliable index score (α = 0.74) and were then combined to create a
worldview defense score.
Results
In order to test the hypothesis that mortality salience will lead to increased worldview defense
for those individuals high in PNS and decreased worldview defense for those individuals low in
PNS, a hierarchal regression analysis was conducted (see Appendix A). Morality salience
(dummy coded) and PNS (centered) were entered into the first step and the interaction term
entered into the second step. Consistent with previous results, there was a main effect of PNS
such that PNS was positively associated with discomfort with LGBT presence, B = 1.40, SE =
0.46, p = < 0.01. However, the main effect was qualified by a significant interaction between
mortality salience and PNS, B = -0.69, SE = 0.28, p = 0.02. A predicted means was conducted at
one standard deviation above and below the mean of PNS. As predicted, at high levels of PNS
(+1 SD), mortality salience marginally increased discomfort with LGBT presence on campus (p
= 0.07). In addition, at low levels of PNS (-1 SD), there was a marginal decrease in discomfort
with LGBT presence on campus (p = 0.09). Therefore, within the mortality salience condition,
high and low levels of personal need for structure were associated with increased and decreased
defense respectively, B = 0.72, SE = 0.21, p = < 0.001. However, these effects are not seen
within the control condition, B = 0.03, SE = 0.19, p = 0.88.

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Discussion
Throughout the gathering of data for study purposes, it became apparent from a few personal
experience questions included in the study that discrimination toward the LGBT community is
still prevalent on North Dakota State University’s campus. These personal experience items
included such statements as “I’ve personally treated someone who identifies as lesbian, gay or
bisexual differently because of his or her sexual orientation” and “I’ve personally witnessed
someone who identifies as transgender being treated differently on campus based on his or her
gender identity”. It was found that roughly 30% of participants admitted to treating someone
differently to some degree based on said person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Additionally, about 50% of participants admitted to witnessing someone being treated different
to some degree based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Of those participants who
identified as something other than exclusively heterosexual (Kinsey et al., 1948; Kinsey et al.,
1953), about 50% expressed they themselves had been treated differently based on their sexual
orientation or gender identity. It is apparent from these statistics that LGBT individuals who
attend North Dakota State University are at risk of experiencing discrimination from their fellow
students.
After probing all data that was collected from the current study, it is possible to draw the
conclusion that there may be existential motivation behind discrimination for certain individuals.
As became clear through various data analyses, mortality salience increased worldview defense
for those individuals at both high and low levels of personal need for structure. In simpler terms,
individuals who seek a clear and structured mode of life became more uncomfortable with LGBT
presence on campus following mortality salience; in contrast, those individuals who are more
cognitively flexible and embrace uncertainty became more comfortable with LGBT presence on

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campus following mortality salience. These effects were not seen in the control, aversive pain
condition. This suggests that not only is there an existential motivation behind certain kinds of
discrimination, but that there is also an individual difference component that must be accounted
for in all people.
While the present research is certainly a step toward understanding individual motivation behind
discrimination toward traditionally underrepresented populations, it is imperative that future
research attempts to link the same effects with other marginalized populations. In addition, the
current research neglected to look at another phenomenon within the study of discriminatory
attitudes known as micro-aggressions, which is depicted as “unintended” discrimination such
that use of social norms of behavior unconsciously have the same effect as conscious, intended
discrimination. While the perpetuator of this kind of discrimination is said to be not aware,
research to determine whether these unconscious discriminatory attitudes interact with
cognitively rigid subscales would certainly provide for interesting dialogue in social psychology.

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Appendix A
Figure 1 (Discomfort with LGBT Presence on Campus)
0
1
2
3
Low PNS (-1 SD) High PNS (+1 SD)
Control
MS

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