Finding everland: Flight fantasies and the desire to transcend mortality

Fantasies and dreams of flight are ubiquitous across cultures and throughout history and often linked to immortality. A perspective derived from terror management theory holds that flight fantasies are appealing because they suggest transcendence of the limitations of creatureliness and mortality. F...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental social psychology 2011, Vol.47 (1), p.88-102
Main Authors: Cohen, Florette, Sullivan, Daniel, Solomon, Sheldon, Greenberg, Jeff, Ogilvie, Daniel M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Dissociation
Dreams
Existential
Existentialism
Experimental psychology
Fantasies
Fantasy
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Imagination
Mortality
Psychology
Psychology and medicine
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Social psychology
Studies
Supernatural
Terror management theory
Thanatology
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Summary:Fantasies and dreams of flight are ubiquitous across cultures and throughout history and often linked to immortality. A perspective derived from terror management theory holds that flight fantasies are appealing because they suggest transcendence of the limitations of creatureliness and mortality. Five studies established the link between mortality concerns and flight fantasy. In Study 1, participants showed greater desire to fly after contemplating death compared to a control topic. In Study 2, participants showed greater desire to fly, but not to engage in other supernatural acts, after contemplating death compared to a control topic. In Studies 3 and 4, participants who engaged in flight fantasy did not subsequently demonstrate defensive reactions to a death reminder observed in nonflight conditions. Study 5 showed that flight fantasy, but not other pleasurable or empowering fantasies, decreased death thought accessibility after mortality salience, and this effect was uniquely mediated by a feeling of freedom from bodily limits.
ISSN:0022-1031
1096-0465
DOI:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.08.013