The article outlines the terror management theory (TMT) proposed by J. Greenberg, S. Solomon and T. Pyszczyński, pointing to its potential application in historical research. The existential fear of mortality, interpreted as one of the major factors influencing human behaviour, results from being conscious of the inevitability of death. In consequence, people apply a variety of conscious and subconscious mechanisms working as anxiety buffers. The theory explains the human need to construct social worldviews and beliefs, as well as the need to maintain one’s high self-esteem. TMT also extends our understanding of preference for one’s own reference group, and of mechanisms of social exclusion, intolerance and religious and political fundamentalism.
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