Simon L, Arndt J, Greenberg J, Pyszczynski T, Solomon S
University of Maryland, USA.
J Pers. 1998 Jun;66(3):359-82. doi: 10.1111/1467-6494.00016.
Previous terror management research has demonstrated that mildly depressed participants show a greater increase in worldview defense in response to reminders of their mortality than do nondepressed participants. Because the cultural worldview is posited to provide a meaningful conception of life, we hypothesized that mildly depressed participants who defend their worldview in response to mortality salience (MS) would increase their perception that the world is meaningful. A preliminary study first examined the Kunzendorf No Meaning Scale as a measure to assess perceptions of meaning. In the primary study, mildly depressed and nondepressed participants contemplated their own mortality or a neutral topic, evaluated two targets in a manner that either allowed them to defend their worldview or that did not, and then completed the Kunzendorf No Meaning Scale. As predicted, mildly depressed participants who had the opportunity to defend their worldview in response to mortality salience reported greater meaning in life than did mildly depressed participants who did not have the opportunity to defend their worldview, or mildly depressed participants not exposed to mortality salience. Implications for understanding and treating depression are briefly discussed.
以往的恐惧管理研究表明，与未患抑郁症的参与者相比，轻度抑郁的参与者在面对死亡提醒时，其世界观防御的增强幅度更大。由于文化世界观被认为能提供对生活的有意义的认知，我们假设，因死亡凸显（MS）而捍卫其世界观的轻度抑郁参与者会增强他们对世界有意义的认知。一项初步研究首先检验了昆曾多夫无意义量表，以此作为评估意义认知的一种手段。在主要研究中，轻度抑郁和未患抑郁症的参与者思考自己的死亡或一个中性话题，以一种要么能让他们捍卫自己的世界观、要么不能捍卫自己世界观的方式评估两个目标，然后完成昆曾多夫无意义量表。正如预测的那样，有机会因死亡凸显而捍卫自己世界观的轻度抑郁参与者，比没有机会捍卫自己世界观的轻度抑郁参与者，或未接触死亡凸显的轻度抑郁参与者，报告的生活意义更大。本文简要讨论了该研究结果对理解和治疗抑郁症的启示。
