Death awareness and body-self dualism: A why and how of afterlife belief

Belief in life after death offers potential comfort in the face of inevitable death. However, afterlife belief likely requires not only an awareness of death but also body–self dualism—the perception that the self (e.g., the mind) is distinct from the physical, undeniably mortal, body. In turn, we h...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of social psychology 2015-03, Vol.45 (2), p.267-275
Main Authors: Heflick, Nathan A., Goldenberg, Jamie L., Hart, Joshua, Kamp, Siri-Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Belief & doubt
Beliefs
Body
Consciousness
Death
Death & dying
Death Attitudes
Dualism
Interfaces
Mortality
Mortality Rates
Perception
Personality
Social psychology
Technology
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Summary:Belief in life after death offers potential comfort in the face of inevitable death. However, afterlife belief likely requires not only an awareness of death but also body–self dualism—the perception that the self (e.g., the mind) is distinct from the physical, undeniably mortal, body. In turn, we hypothesized that mortality salience (MS) should heighten afterlife belief only when dualism is facilitated. Study 1 found that MS increased belief for people high, relative to low, in trait mind–body dualism. In Study 2, MS only increased belief when people first wrote about their thoughts and personality, which a pilot study confirmed facilitated dualistic belief, relative to thinking about the physical self. Study 3 used the brain–computer interface technology to induce a dualistic experience: MS increased belief when participants accurately “typed” without the use of their external body (i.e., no hands). Together, these findings support the position that mortality awareness and body–self dualism constitute a “why” and “how” of afterlife belief. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:0046-2772
1099-0992
DOI:10.1002/ejsp.2075