edge theory

a theory proposing that death anxiety has a survival function that emerges when individuals perceive themselves to be in life-threatening situations. Edge theory attempts to resolve the apparent discrepancy between other theoretical claims that death anxiety is a major motivational force and empirical studies that reveal only low to moderate levels of death anxiety in the general population. It suggests that death anxiety is the subjective or experiential side of a holistic preparation to deal with danger (symbolic of standing at the edge of the void). Heightened arousal is turned on by anxiety surges in emergency situations; psychological difficulties arise when the emergency response has permeated the individual’s everyday functioning. See also terror management theory. [introduced by Robert J. Kastenbaum]

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Psychology term of the day

January 30th 2025

accommodative coping

a stress-management strategy in which a person adjusts his or her preferences and orientations to suit given situational forces and constraints. Involving a devaluation of, or disengagement from, blocked goals and a lowering of personal performance standards and aspirations, accommodative coping thus represents a neutralization rather than an active solution of a particular problem. Accommodative processes generally appear following repeated unsuccessful attempts to change the situation through assimilative coping. Additionally, accommodative processes are thought to be more prominent in later life, when individuals tend to experience an increasingly unfavorable balance of developmental gains and losses. [identified in 1990 by Jochen Brandtstädter and Gerolf Renner, German psychologists]