Mortality salience increases language style matching and well-being

The present research examined whether people imitate the language style of others (i.e., the use of function words) as a form of liking when mortality concerns are salient. In Study 1, participants answered questions about death or public speaking and then engaged in an instant messaging conversatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Self and identity 2016-07, Vol.15 (4), p.452-467
Main Authors: Cox, Cathy R., Kersten, Mike
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Death & dying
death awareness
Fear & phobias
Language
Metacognition
Mortality
relationships
Terror management
well-being
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Summary:The present research examined whether people imitate the language style of others (i.e., the use of function words) as a form of liking when mortality concerns are salient. In Study 1, participants answered questions about death or public speaking and then engaged in an instant messaging conversation with a confederate. In Study 2, participant pairs verbally discussed a news article about increasing homicide rates or the rise in academic pressure. Next, everyone completed measures of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and relationship need satisfaction. The results revealed that, in comparison to the control conditions, participants exhibited greater language style matching (LSM) following reminders of death (Studies 1 & 2). Further, mediational analyses showed that higher LSM after mortality salience was associated with better psychological and social well-being (Study 2). Although the threat of death has been shown to make people more hostile and disparaging toward dissimilar others, the present work suggests that individuals, even strangers, may feel closer through language coordination following thoughts of mortality.
ISSN:1529-8868
1529-8876
DOI:10.1080/15298868.2016.1154888