The theory of fear management was created in 1986. Its authors– American psychologists Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyzhinsky, and Sheldon Solomon, drew on ideas outlined in anthropologist Ernest Becker’s book Denial of Death, published in 1973.

Becker believed that it is the desire to “forget about death” that determines most of the thoughts and actions of every person, and also underlies the creation and operation of social institutions. The basis of universal internal conflict, according to Becker, is that a person is aware of two beginnings. The first is a physiological one, an animal that is destined to die. And the second is conceptual, spiritual, what we feel ourselves to be. In order to stop thinking about death, people follow the path of denial or suppression of the physical principle and strive for maximum identification with the “spiritual Self”. The refusal to recognize oneself as a physiological object and the desire to “rise above the world of animals” is also associated with the ban adopted in many cultures on depicting the exercise of human physiological functions. Also, in order to escape from the power of paralyzing thoughts about death, “immortality projects” are being created – both personal and social. An example of such projects are religions and ideologies in which a person can feel conditionally immortal. Moreover, the more people are convinced that a particular project is “working”, the easier it is for an individual to believe in their truth. “There can be different ways,” Becker writes, “through masterpieces of art or the conquest of new lands, great wealth, or just a large and loving family with an abundance of grandchildren and great–grandchildren. But every sense of life is shaped by an underlying desire not to die.” Becker considers such phenomena as wars, Nazism, and fanaticism to be a confrontation between various projects of immortality. After all, someone’s conviction of the correctness of “his project of immortality” casts doubt on “our project of immortality.” And this must not be allowed, so as not to be defenseless before thoughts and impending death.

Heroism plays a key role in the concept of death denial. According to Becker, it is the opportunity to feel like a hero within a particular social system that allows a person to feel like part of something eternal, sacred heroism rising above the “animal lot.” The “norms of heroism” are determined by the culture in which a person lives. Accordingly, each society has its own heroes, endowed to the maximum extent with features that are important for this particular culture – through imitation of these heroes, people feel that they are “joining eternity.” Political leaders often act as heroes. Therefore, people react to their deaths, especially if their personality is closely linked to the prevailing ideology (Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, etc.), with a manifestation of “national grief.” This phenomenon, which Becker calls the neurotic “vaudeville of despair,” is due to the fact that with the death of a leader, the cultural “project of immortality” is threatened, the support that seemed unshakable is lost, and a person is faced with the realization of his finiteness. For this reason, they try to “perpetuate” the deceased: They put up monuments, mummify him, name streets and cities after him, etc. According to Becker, conflicts between the inner self and the hero, recognized by society, underlie the development of mental disorders. So, depression develops when a person feels that he has stopped conforming to the “external hero” (expectations of society). At the same time, he feels that his personal “project of immortality” is under threat. This leads to an aggravation of the horror of the inevitable end and a descent into depression. Personality disorders, primarily schizophrenia, occur when a person does not find the ability or desire to match the image of an “external hero”: he has to create his own world where he will feel like a hero. Thus, “projects of immortality”, according to Becker, on the one hand allow a person to “come to terms” with thoughts of inevitable death, and on the other hand, they are illusions that prevent them from living their lives effectively, increasing dependence on society.

The creators of the theory of fear of death management developed Becker’s ideas and deepened the understanding of the role that society plays in the formation of individual mental defenses. The authors of the theory claim that there are two types of psychological defenses against anxiety arising from thoughts of death. The primary defenses are the denial of death and the suppression of thoughts about it. The secondary ones help to reduce this fear and are based on socio-cultural values that make it possible to see the world as stable and orderly. The most important concept that helps to “isolate” oneself from the awareness of imminent death is self-esteem or self-esteem. Self-esteem in this case means a person’s confidence that his actions meet the expectations of society, satisfaction that he “understands everything correctly”, has “correct values” and, therefore, is “good” and “correct” himself. Naturally, completely different values can be considered “correct” in different cultures. Thus, self-esteem within the framework of this concept is a person’s subjective assessment of their compliance with the cultural values of society. The assimilation of what is “good” and “bad” in a particular culture occurs already in childhood. For a child, a sense of security is associated with the closeness of parents, children “absorb” the values and standards of their family. Following the “norms” is reinforced by the positive assessment of parents and the gradually expanding social environment – peers, teachers, etc. Thus, from an early age, a person feels protected only by receiving social approval, and forms self-esteem criteria, and in fact, a set of psychological defenses that help reduce anxiety when thinking about death.

Experts believe that believing in one’s own death contradicts the basic biological tendency to survive at all costs: therefore, the brain strongly opposes the idea of an inevitable end. Scientists from Bar-Ilan University (Israel) have started studying the protective mechanisms of the brain that allow maintaining the illusion of immortality. During the experiment, participants were shown people’s faces on a screen (including the face of the subject himself), and this was done with a certain tendency to guess the next face. When the participants’ expectations were disappointed and the wrong face appeared on the screen, the surprise reaction was registered in the brain. Periodically, inscriptions appeared next to the faces, some of which were related to death. Experts noted that the only times when the “prediction” system in the brain stopped working were when the participant’s face appeared next to words reminding of death. In these cases, even when expectations were violated, the brain did not respond, as if it refused to “look into the future.” According to scientists, the experiment confirms the hypothesis that we are only able to believe in someone else’s death, which seems to us to be an accident, but our brain refuses to consciously accept the fact of our own death. Experts believe that it is this mechanism that allows us to live in the present, and not to worry about the inevitability of impending death.

Since the creation of the theory of managing the fear of death to the present day, many studies have been conducted showing how thoughts of an inevitable end affect people’s behavior. One of the most famous is considered to be an experiment conducted in 1989 at the University of Arizona, during which judges had to decide on the punishment (the amount of the fine) for a woman engaged in prostitution. The judges were divided into two groups. The representatives of the first group made the decision on punishment, being in the usual frame of mind: the average amount of the fine in this group was $ 50. The judges from the second group answered questions about their feelings about their own demise before making a decision. The average fine in the second group was $450. The experiment showed that thoughts of death forced people to demonstrate greater self-respect (inextricably linked in their eyes with the social role, the status of a judge) and aggravated their negative attitude towards the violator, endangering the moral values of society, and, consequently, the cultural “project of immortality” itself. The tendency of people to overreact to reminders of death is used in politics. In 2015, specialists from the Psychology Department of the Higher School of Economics (Russia) conducted a study on the influence of thoughts about death on the image of an ideal politician. The experiment showed that participants who were shown videos of terrorist attacks before the survey and asked to imagine themselves in the place of the victims preferred less “caring” leaders. The reminder of death made participants value qualities such as friendliness and the ability to “hear other people’s opinions” less, and prefer leaders who focus on achieving a “unified vision” more “strict.” Similar experiments conducted earlier also showed that thoughts of death encourage people to rely on politicians who take into account the interests of the “majority” as much as possible: under the leadership of such a person, people feel more “safe”. Thus, with the help of video content presented on TV before the election, it is possible to influence the mood of the audience. The abundance of information reminiscent of death, which creates a sense of instability, makes people prefer a leader who relies on “unity” rather than politicians who seek to take into account the interests of various groups. In addition, the fear of death, which can be provoked by the media, increases the level of aggression among people, making them more intolerant of dissidents, to people who differ from the “majority” by one criterion or another.: it can be nationality, religion, political views, sexual preferences, etc. By showing aggression towards “others,” people feel a greater degree of involvement in their own culture, asserting the superiority of “our projects of immortality” over “others,” which results in a sense of calm and security. It has also been shown in a number of experiments that awareness of the fear of death increases the level of consumption. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the call by U.S. President George W. Bush to show fearlessness in front of terrorists and “keep shopping,” total consumption of goods increased by 6% in three months.

The theory of fear of death management is a fairly young concept, which is the most important area of modern social psychology. At the same time, the influence of death on human consciousness has always been the subject of research by scientists, and the dream of eternal life has been embodied in myths since ancient times. Stephen Cave, the author of the book “The Desire to Live Forever as the engine of Civilization,” a philosopher at the University of Cambridge, argues that eternal stories about immortality are now being “translated” from the language of myths into scientific language. Thus, stories about the possibility of living in an undying body with the help of the elixir of youth or rejuvenating apples were transformed into the hope of “never dying” thanks to genetic engineering or stem cells. The technology of deep freezing of the body with the prospect of revival in the future (cryonics) is nothing more than a myth of resurrection. And the idea of the “eternal life of consciousness” turns into a dream of “uploading the mind (soul) to a computer,” etc. Referring to the ancient philosopher Epicurus, who argued that death has nothing to do with us, because “while we exist, death is still absent; when it comes, we no longer exist,” Cave argues that the fear of death is natural on the one hand, and irrational on the other. Quoting the words of the American writer Susan Ertz, that millions who crave immortality “do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon,” Stephen Cave says that what is much more important is not the beginning and the end of life, but what is in the middle. “Death is not an event of life: we do not live to experience death,” says the philosopher. – Eternal life belongs only to those who live a real life. Our life has no end, just as our field of vision has no boundaries.”