Terror Management Theory's Effect on Athletic Performance

This research examines the effects of terror management theory (TMT) and athletic performance. TMT states that humans defend themselves against the anxiety stemming from death awareness (mortality salience; MS) by investing in cultural worldviews, which often results in identification with similar others as well as harsh denigration of anyone with opposing views. I sought to investigate whether participant’s athletic performance would be affected by mortality salience. Participants included varsity lacrosse players, varsity women soccer players, men soccer players, and a mixed population of undergraduate students. Each participant was asked to complete as many push-ups as they could and then asked to complete a self-esteem survey. They were then exposed to the mortality salience or control and then asked to repeat the push-up test. The goal was to determine if the participants exposed to the MS had a greater number of completed push-ups the second go around