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death anxiety

emotional distress and insecurity aroused by reminders of mortality, including one’s own memories and thoughts of death (see also ontological confrontation). Classical psychoanalytic theory asserted that the unconscious cannot believe in its own death, therefore thanatophobia was a disguise for some deeper fear. Existentialists later proposed that death anxiety is at the root of all fears, though often disguised. A mass of research using self-report scales (see death-anxiety scales) suggests that most people have a low to moderate level of death anxiety. See also edge theory; terror management theory.

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Psychology term of the day

May 8th 2024

law of continuity

law of continuity

see good continuation.